Should laws allow the production and use of artificial wombs?

Pro: Various methods of contraception enable a couple to enjoy sex without responsibility for procreation. But they all require attention and proper use. And none of them is completely reliable. The use of condoms began the divorce of sexual activity from pregnancy and childbirth. But the separation of sexual pleasure from reproduction began in earnest with the introduction of the birth control pill. For even as the passion of the moment stole attention from precautions against pregnancy, the pill afforded protection.

The reliability of the pill far exceeded the reliability of condoms, and so the pill made a crucial difference in our sex lives. Women had much less reason to deny themselves and their men the pleasures of sexual intercourse because of the fear of getting pregnant.

Contraceptives provide a way to manage the timing of a pregnancy. With contraceptives, a woman can completely avoid the responsibilities of rearing a child by preventing the conception of the child in the first place. Even so, when a woman wants a child of her own, she has had to endure a pregnancy.

Artificial wombs enable a woman to avoid pregnancy and still have a child of her own. Pregnancy need no longer limit certain freedoms a woman can enjoy: the freedom to travel, go to school, or pursue a career without interruption. Before the child arrives and responsibilities begin, the gestation of the new being will produce no physical limitations or hardships for the mother.

The ready availability of artificial wombs will not in itself ensure that all procreation becomes intentional. Ectogenesis does not eliminate the need for contraception as a way of planning for the birth of children. But it does offer freedom from a nine month pregnancy. When contraceptive methods fail, or when the female wants a child but also wants to avoid the disadvantages of carrying a fetus to term, then she may elect to have the fetus removed from her womb and placed in an artificial womb for the completion of gestation.

Pro: The availability of artificial wombs may in some instances reduce the demand for abortion.

Pro: A safe, effective means for bringing a fetus to term outside of the human body frees women from the discomfort of pregnancy, the nausea and edema, as well as the threats to life and health, like toxemia. The inconvenience and pain that can result from a pregnancy do not themselves strengthen a mother's love for her child. The elimination of these negative factors could improve the human disposition toward reproduction.

Pro: Contraception and ectogenesis together correct the imbalance between men and women with regard to the burden of reproduction.

Pro: The artificial womb, because it would be stationary and located in a safe place, or relocated to a safe place when threatening circumstances arise, would eliminate one of the present sources of danger to the fetus: the movement of the mother through a hazardous environment. There would be no need to have, and there would be some danger in having, an incubator routinely traveling through the environment. As pregnant females move about to get food and satisfy other purposes, they expose their fetuses to some risks: the dangers from falls and collisions. A stationary incubator in a safe place would give the human fetus not only the best controlled physical environment for its development but also the greatest protection from trauma.

Pro: Designers of an artificial womb aim to improve on human reproductive capability, that is, eliminate the obstacles to conception within the human body—the anatomical imperfections and physiological imbalances that threaten reproductive success. In time, artificial wombs will produce healthier babies and more of them. And artificial wombs, if they function better than human wombs, may well produce the future generations of our race.

Con: One concern about using an artificial womb as host to a developing human from conception is that the bond between mother and child might not be as strong as it is in the case where the mother carries the fetus to full term in her uterus. Artificial wombs will not create stronger psychological bonds between parents and the developing fetus: the bonds could at best be the same. Rather more likely, the bonds would be weaker. There would be no awareness of a continuing presence of the fetus, no constant reminder of the development of a new life, no recurring sense of wonder. While she would be free from the discomfort of pregnancy and free from the need to take special care of her own body (restricting her activities, fulfilling special nutritional requirements), the mother might forget her offspring until it was ready to leave the incubator.

While the baby's father has a psychological bond to a developing fetus even while the fetus has no physical connection to him, the bond between father and child develops as he interacts with his pregnant mate. Her presence reminds the father continually of the growth of their offspring. If paternity is an abstraction, then ectogenesis makes maternity an abstraction as well.

Pro: The separation of actions taken for sexual pleasure from actions taken to procreate will not lead to a weakening of a parent's commitment to offspring. On the contrary, those who make deliberate attempts to procreate—especially those that require complicated technologies—manifest an extraordinary investment of emotional energy and financial resources in the project of getting a child. No such expenditure of time, energy and money is likely to occur where there is no commitment to raising a son or daughter.

Widely available, reliable artificial wombs would affect the birth rate for humans.

Reproduction is not driven solely by the desire for pleasure. The 'maternal instinct', the desire to enjoy the company of children, to nurture and educate them, as well as the desire to continue the family name, can turn sexual activity into a mere means to an end, prompt the sex act even when passion does not. The desire to have children and the availability of a reliable technology for producing them for barren families could boost the number of births.

To a degree, contraceptives have already separated sexual pleasure from reproduction. People can enjoy sex without the risk of pregnancy. But while contraceptives surely limit the number of births, artificial wombs are more likely to increase the population than contribute to its decline. Many people who want children but cannot have them will view the technology as a way of overcoming the failures of their own reproductive systems.