Research On Ethical Issues Of Artificial Womb Technology

This study aims to discuss whether artificial womb technology should be further developed,and the ethical issues and ethical countermeasures that its clinical application may raise.This study believes that the development of artificial womb technology is in line with human well-being,especially in improving the survival rate of premature or extremely premature infants and reducing their complications,but its ethical issues also deserve attention.It needs to be clear that the application of artificial womb technology to “ectogestation”is feasible,and even if “ectogenesis” can be realized at the technical level,it cannot be justified.In other words,artificial womb technology should be limited to the adjuvant treatment of premature or extremely premature infants,and to help those pregnant women who cannot complete the pregnancy process due to special circumstances.However,“ectogenesis”,which replaces humans for a complete pregnancy,should be prohibited.Otherwise,it may lead to ethical issues such as injustice.This study first reviewed the concept of artificial womb technology globally,discriminated the difference between the concept of “ectogenesis” and “ectogestation”,and discussed the development and application value of this technology,to restore the original meaning of the artificial womb technology as accurately as possible and defuse some scholars’ misunderstanding of this technology.Secondly,this study is based on the purpose of artificial womb technology,the injustice that may be caused by “ectogenesis” is discussed,and it is established that the ethical research of artificial womb technology should focus on “ectogestation”.In addition,the study discusses the controversy about the ontology and moral status of the fetus and the technical risks and ethical issues caused by “ectogestation” to the fetus and special pregnant women.The discussion will be conducted from the perspective of science and technology ethics and bioethics.Finally,this study based on the status quo of scientific and technological ethics governance in China,as well as the risks and ethical controversies of artificial womb technology,proposes corresponding ethical countermeasures.The ethical countermeasures include: strengthening the ethics education of scientific researchers and medical staff,improving the public’s level of science popularization and the role of ethics supervision,establishing and improving the system of ethics review and ethics supervision,and promoting the joint construction of global ethics governance system.