THE GUARDIAN: Artificial womb: Dutch researchers given €2.9m to develop prototype

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Elizabeth Chloe Romanis, a lawyer at the University of Manchester who has explored the bioethics of artificial wombs, warned that the technology would raise questions – including about which babies it should be tested on, as well as the long-term implications of being gestated in an artificial womb.

“The law treats foetuses and babies very differently, so how does the subject of the artificial womb fit in? Is it possible to turn off the artificial womb, and in what circumstances?” she said, adding that there are also questions about how such a gestation might be viewed by society, particularly if it becomes an alternative to a “natural” pregnancy.

“It is clear that the legal and ethical issues emerging from the technology must be talked about now, in advance of the artificial womb becoming a reality,” she said.