Dystopian fantasy or ... the same trajectory as IVF (weird dystopian fantasy --> arcane research/development --> "the new normal"), which decades ago we thought would never happen?
Some things shouldn't be remedied by technology, even if they *can be*.
Sometimes we have to accept that we won't have a child or that our child will die. We can take reasonable means, but we also are responsible for "unintended" (yet all too predictable) consequences.
Artificial wombs mean slavery. I really can't see how it will be otherwise.
Ideally, in a good society, this could be a tool to save lives in dire and unusual circumstances. Unfortunately, our culture is not moral or responsible enough and this will be abused. Also, it reduces a mother’s role to machinery, and violates both the dignity of the individuals involved, and families in general. There are better ways to work scientifically to save lives. Conception through birth is a sacred maternal and paternal awe-inspiring miracle. I hate the idea of an artificial womb and I think it is very disrespectful to God. TThomas
ReplyDeleteI remember as an older child hearing a breastfeeding advocate talk about artificial gestation for severely premature babies. She predicted that, if perfected as a technique, it would go from being not just for those truly in need, but for "everyone," and a mother who chose to try "extended" (really just full-length) gestation would become viewed as an extreme, unnatural weirdo. Just as has happened with formula and "extended" breastfeeding, and to a lesser but significant extent with childbirth, in which the natural default is viewed as the extreme and a hindrance to women. I just always found that insight undeniable and fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThat was of course different than the technology which you linked to - a complete workaround with no gestation in the mother whatsoever. Completely unjustifiable!
I think this is true. The more we can rely on technology the more it will be normalized in an effort to grow market share! I think this cultural trend will continue, such that midwifery skills, breastfeeding, and so forth are already prime collective memory subjects, and knowledge of these will be ever more important to have for ourselves and not rely on mainstream medicine. In our little pocket of friends we are more often being each other’s doulas. Usually with the mandate to guard the mother from unnecessary interventions!
DeleteNot to mention, there is no mention of the root cause of infertility! Not surprising as this is surely a profitable field (artificial wombs). There is much wrong with the entirety.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I think using an artificial womb could push a woman struggling with infertility (I have been one myself) even further into feeling like a failure. Her womanhood has been replaced by a gestational bag. Nothing good comes from that. Good things do come, though, from facing reality, as painful as it can be.
ReplyDeleteSuzy in MA
Growing a baby in a piece of plastic without the natural sounds, motions, tastes, touch or light of being in utero seems like a good way to grow a psycho.
ReplyDeleteWe have lost all sense of our place - creation rather than Creator. From start to finish this is wrong and an incredible offense to God, the author of all life. Catholic teaching on IVF is spot on but the teaching wasn't taught and the relative silence on that issue has paved the way for the acceptance of this. But it is all wrong, right from the get go. Far better that we cultivate awe and wonder, humility and trust in God than pretend we are God.
ReplyDeleteComplete commodification of the human person here. The part about checking on your baby’s progress via a smartphone app as if it were a package arriving from Amazon! The “gene editing”! The venture capitalists taking notice! This is nothing more or less than human trafficking.
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