Artificial Womb

[McAvoy]

How would you feel about this? The implications would be huge because for example now abortions for example could be placed with the father's decision if the mother doesn't want it. Or a couple who cannot conceive because the wife's womb cannot hold a a baby. Or a gay couple who wants to have a child together without a surrogate.

My feminist neighbor found this to be unnatural. Obviously. But she did also say that this removed the one big advantage women have over men.

EDIT: Something is wrong with the text field. It runs over the buttons when you text past the size of the field. It blocks the post button. I had to cut and paste th above text in the Edit function.

[Mikey]

Of course it's unnatural, that's why you used the term "artificial." I think the fact that it's an end-run around abortion is a whole new kettle of reproductive rights arguments, and a less visceral one than that of abortion rights. Tricky.

[Graham Kennedy]

I'd still support a woman's right to have an abortion - an artificial womb can provide another option, sure, but it's still her body and her right to decide what happens in it.

It would open up a can of worms if you mandated removal to an AW in cases of abortion anyway. What if the abortion was because neither parent wants a kid? Who raises it then? Who pays for it? The state? That's an awful costly decision. The parents? Sucks to say that you're saddled with the cost of a kid you didn't want and intended to get rid of.

The gay couple is an interesting one. Yes, they'd be rid of the need for a surrogate pregnancy. They'd still need a donor egg, though. Although the way things are going with genetic engineering that might not be so for that much longer.

All in all I'm for it - I'm always for increased choices. But it's sure going to make life more complicated for the breeders!

[Mikey]

I'd still support a woman's right to have an abortion - an artificial womb can provide another option, sure, but it's still her body and her right to decide what happens in it.

It would open up a can of worms if you mandated removal to an AW in cases of abortion anyway. What if the abortion was because neither parent wants a kid? Who raises it then? Who pays for it? The state? That's an awful costly decision. The parents? Sucks to say that you're saddled with the cost of a kid you didn't want and intended to get rid of.

I, for one, didn't mean to imply that it would be an alternative for a woman's right to abortion. The other reproductive rights arguments about which I commented were those of donors' rights, paternal rights, paternal or maternal fiscal responsibilities in the case of one-sided decisions, etc.

[IanKennedy]

EDIT: Something is wrong with the text field. It runs over the buttons when you text past the size of the field. It blocks the post button. I had to cut and paste th above text in the Edit function.

The text field is a completely stock item, if it's not working correctly your web browser is likely buggy. Try using another one as a test.

Just tried it now and it works perfectly on Safari on Mac.

[Graham Kennedy]

Working fine on Chrome and Firefox on the mac, too.