Question

How can artificial wombs help prematurely born babies?

Answer 1

The device consists of a clear plastic bag filled with synthetic amniotic fluid. A machine outside the bag is attached to the umbilical cord to function like a placenta, providing nutrition and oxygen to the blood and removing carbon dioxide.

"The whole idea is to support normal development; to re-create everything that the mother does in every way that we can to support normal fetal development and maturation," Flake says.

Other researchers praised the advance, saying it could help thousands of babies born very prematurely each year, if tests in humans were to prove successful.

the artificial womb could give premature babies born 23 or 24 weeks into pregnancy a better chance of survival and health, and many doctors are excited about it. Because it gives researchers and doctors the ability to more closely monitor the life of a fetus in the womb, it can also help them learn more about human development. However, the device raises some complicated questions. There are ethical issues at play, including how to decide which babies would be eligible for its use. A normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks, and many babies born 23 or 24 weeks into pregnancy or earlier are at high risk for severe complications like paralysis and cerebral palsy. Some doctors don’t agree with taking drastic measures to save their lives only to see them suffer for a potentially short time. Some are also worried that this kind of medical technology may also create a grey area between what we consider a fetus and what we consider a baby, and worry about what the device will mean for abortion politics.