Жасанды аналық орта: ерте кезеңдегі жүктілікке мүмкіндік

Device that would allow for extracorporeal pregnancy

[[File:Nature Communications Biobag system design. jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Figure from a 2017 Nature Communications paper describing an extra uterine life support system, or "biobag", used to grow lamb fetuses. This can potentially be performed as a switch from a natural uterus to an artificial uterus, thereby moving the threshold of fetal viability to a much earlier stage of pregnancy. In 2017, fetal researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia published a study showing they had grown premature lamb fetuses for four weeks in an extra uterine life support system. A 14 day rule prevents human embryos from being kept in artificial wombs longer than 14 days; this rule has been codified into law in twelve countries. In 2021, The Washington Post reported that "the International Society for Stem Cell Research relaxed a historical '14 day rule' that said researchers could grow natural embryos for only 14 days in the laboratory, allowing researchers to seek approval for longer studies. Human embryo models are banned from being implanted into a uterus."

An artificial uterus, sometimes referred to as an "exowomb", would have to provide nutrients and oxygen to nurture a fetus, as well as dispose of waste material. The scope of an artificial uterus, or "artificial uterus system" to emphasize a broader scope, may also include the interface serving the function otherwise provided by the placenta, an amniotic tank functioning as the amniotic sac, as well as an umbilical cord.

A woman may still supply nutrients and dispose of waste products if the artificial uterus is connected to her. However, the cerebral vasculature and germinal matrix are poorly developed in fetuses, and subsequently, there is an unacceptably high risk for intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) if administering ECMO at a gestational age less than 32 weeks. Liquid ventilation has been suggested as an alternative method of oxygenation, or at least providing an intermediate stage between the womb and breathing in open air. Issues related to hormonal stability also remain to be addressed. The tissue sample was then engineered to form the shape of a natural uterus, and human embryos were then implanted into the tissue. The embryos correctly implanted into the artificial uterus' lining and started to grow. However, the experiments were halted after six days to stay within the permitted legal limits of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) legislation in the United States.

Theoretically, in case of premature removal of the fetus from the natural uterus, the natural umbilical cord could be used, kept open either by medical inhibition of physiological occlusion, by anti coagulation as well as by stenting or creating a bypass for sustaining blood flow between the mother and fetus.

[[File:Images representing technical steps during sEmbryo culture protocol. jpg|thumb|Electronically controlled ex utero roller culture system (technical steps during sEmbryo culture protocol) This device was also used in 2022 to nurture mouse stem cells for over a week and grow synthetic embryos from stem cells.

The development of artificial uteri and ectogenesis raises bioethical and legal considerations, and also has important implications for reproductive rights and the abortion debate. Artificial uteri may expand the range of fetal viability, raising questions about the role that fetal viability plays within abortion law. Within severance theory, for example, abortion rights only include the right to remove the fetus, and do not always extend to the termination of the fetus. If transferring the fetus from a woman's womb to an artificial uterus is possible, the choice to terminate a pregnancy in this way could provide an alternative to aborting the fetus. A 2007 essay theorizes that children who develop in an artificial uterus may lack "some essential bond with their mothers that other children have".

In the 1970 book The Dialectic of Sex, feminist Shulamith Firestone wrote that differences in biological reproductive roles are a source of gender inequality. Firestone singled out pregnancy and childbirth, making the argument that an artificial womb would free "women from the tyranny of their reproductive biology." Arathi Prasad argues in her column on The Guardian in her article "How artificial wombs will change our ideas of gender, family and equality" that "[i]t will give men an essential tool to have a child entirely without a woman, should they choose. It will ask us to question concepts of gender and parenthood." She furthermore argues for the benefits for same sex couples, saying: "It might also mean that the divide between mother and father can be dispensed with: a womb outside a woman’s body would serve women, trans women and male same sex couples equally without prejudice."

In 2023, The Pod Generation features detachable artificial wombs called pods. The Womb Center allows couples to share pregnancy more equally with pods.