Does Mankind Need an ‘Artificial Womb Facility’?
The technology to grow fetuses in artificial wombs powered by artificial intelligence already exists. Last December, Hashem al-Ghaili, a Berlin-based producer, filmmaker and biotechnologist, shared a video with the stated goal of drawing attention to these technologies. Although the EctoLife facility in the video does not yet exist, it promises the possibility of growing around 30,000 babies yearly.
EctoLife is not a real facility and there is no work being done to create the prototype as of now. The video is intended to showcase how far science and reproductive technology have progressed and initiate the discussion around such technology.
—Hashem al-Ghaili
Why is mankind interested in such technology?
Rising dangers in pregnancy: “Maternal mortality is unacceptably high,” the World Health Organization reported in February, claiming that about 287,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2020.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that almost 20,000 infants died in the U.S. in that same year. Close to 5,000 miscarriages have been reported to the U.S.’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System following a covid-19 vaccination (read “Should Pregnant Women Get the COVID Vaccine?”).
Declining fertility: According to data from the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics, “Fertility rates in the United States gradually declined from 1990 to 2019.” And it could get worse. The precise effects of the covid vaccine on fertility are still unknown.
Are artificial wombs the future? EctoLife promises to help reduce human suffering and C-sections, and it even offers the ability to engineer the embryo genetically. This is another part of a current trend: mankind seeking to avoid the consequences of breaking God’s law.
Broken laws are the cause of all suffering. God’s challenge for us is to learn His laws to avoid the suffering. But since the Garden of Eden, man has chosen his own way instead of God’s. As our latest Trumpet issue shows, mankind’s increasing efforts to develop technology to free himself from the consequences of rebelling against God’s law will have a disastrous end—but hope lays beyond.
