Posted on 04/26/2017 7:17:51 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen
An artificial womb designed to support critically premature babies has been demonstrated successfully in animals for the first time, in an advance that could transform the lives of the most fragile newborns.
Lambs born at the equivalent of 23 weeks in a human pregnancy were kept alive and appeared to develop normally while floating inside the transparent, womb-like vessel for four weeks after birth. Doctors said that the pioneering approach could radically improve outcomes for babies born so early that they cannot breathe, feed or fight infection without medical help.
Alan Flake, a foetal surgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and lead author, said the proposed system could act as an urgently needed bridge between the mother’s womb and the outside world for babies born at between 23 to 28 weeks gestation.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Oh great. First thing that came to mind was “transwomen” getting these implanted so that they could be “pregnant”.
A beautiful technology if applied appropriately. But I have a hunch these transgendered freaks will catch onto this.
I was hoping the science deniers that support the murder of unborn babies would have an epiphany and rethink their views on when life begins.
If this exists, what then is the case for abortion? Rather than commit murder against the baby, the mother can give up the baby before it comes to term, and someone else can adopt it when it is “born” from the artificial womb.
Yeah, good point. It will be a help to those who advocate that children are the property of the State.
Unnecessary, as the very fact of the technology (if successful) removes any rationale for abortion. Any pregnant female can probably find a childless couple to adopt her fetus at any stage of development.
If nothing else, it will push the "allowable age for abortion" down (and hopefully down and down and down, eventually to zero).
I used to think it would work that way. But we are using logic. Abortion is a sacrament to these people, they will never give it up. They will fight for the right to kill the unborn no matter what, including the existence of some type of painless procedure to take the unborn person so it can live outside the womb. Even if they don’t have to pay for it, like a free service or something.
Freegards
fetus transfer. Mother conceives, early stage fetus transferred to artificial womb to term...here comes Brave New World.
That’s the other side of it, the inevitable abuses that will happen.
Freegards
So welfare moms are no longer needed? Robots are taking all the good jobs.
From the article:
Partridge described the apparatus in operation as “an awe-inspiring sight”, but the authors acknowledge that the public may be wary of the technology.
“I don’t want this to be visualised as humans hanging on the walls in bags,” said Flake. “This is not how this device will work or look.”
The human version will have the appearance of a fluid-filled incubator, with a dark cover and interior, and the baby would be monitored by cameras. Flake predicts that such a set-up, while unfamiliar, is likely to be less distressing for parents than the current situation in which fragile infants typically undergo a host of invasive procedures, including intubation, ventilation and surgery.
The authors also ruled out the prospect of an entire gestation taking place externally, as depicted in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, where babies are routinely decanted into the world from artificial wombs.
“The reality is that at the present time there’s no technology on the horizon,” said Flake. “There’s nothing but the mother that’s able to support that [initial] period of time.”
Yes. At the present time...
Why are 1 in 9 babies in the UK born early?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.