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84 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 877 (2009-2010)
Development of Ectogenesis: How Will Artificial Wombs Affect the Legal Status of a Fetus or Embryo

handle is hein.journals/chknt84 and id is 893 raw text is: DEVELOPMENT OF ECTOGENESIS: HOW WILL ARTIFICIAL WOMBS AFFECT THE LEGAL STATUS OF A FETUS OR EMBRYO? JESSICA H. SCHULTZ* INTRODUCTION Artificial womb1 technology would allow conception and fetal devel- opment to occur completely independent of a woman's womb or allow a fetus to be transferred from a woman's womb to an artificial womb for the remainder of its gestation.2 Both of these possibilities raise a variety of legal and ethical questions. Some commentators see ectogenesis, which is the process of the embryo or fetus developing in a device outside of the body, as a valuable medical development.3 For example, ectogenesis could help those who cannot carry a pregnancy have genetic children without a surrogate and could also save the lives of premature babies.4 Others assert that the development of artificial wombs will cause babies to be treated as commodities and will debase women by replacing one of a woman's most unique natural abilities with man-made technology.5 The potential of this technology is fraught with legal questions, including how artificial wombs will affect the potential father's and the state's interest in the fetus; whether contracts regarding artificial wombs might be enforceable; and who would bear liability for mishaps that might occur due to artificial womb use.6 * J.D., Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2009; B.A. Northwestern University, English Literature, 2006. I would like to thank Professor Lori Andrews and Michael Loters- tein for their insightful comments during the drafting process. I would also like to thank my husband Steven and son Aidan for their love and support. 1. Artificial womb describes the actual device that holds the embryo or fetus, while ectogenesis is the process of the embryo or fetus developing in the device outside the body. Frida Simonstein, Artificial Reproduction Technologies (RTs)-All the Way to the Artificial Womb?, 9 MED. HEALTH CARE & PHIL. 359, 359 (2006). 2. STEPHEN COLEMAN, THE ETHICS OF ARTIFICIAL UTERUSES: IMPLICATIONS FOR REPRODUCTION AND ABORTION 81 (2004). 3. See PETER SINGER & DEANE WELLS, MAKING BABIES: THE NEW SCIENCE AND ETHICS OF CONCEPTION, 118-19 (1985); Amel Alghrani, The Legal and Ethical Ramifications of Ectogenesis, 2 ASIAN J. WTO & INT'L HEALTH L. & POL'Y 189,190-91 (2007). 4. SINGER & WELLS, supra note 3, at 118-19; Alghrani, supra note 3, at 191. 5. See e.g., Irina Aristarkhova, Ectogenesis and Mother as Machine, 3 BODY & SOC'Y 43 (2005); Stephen M. Armstrong, Womb and Board: Medical Advances in Reproduction-At What Costs?, 4 MED. TRIAL TECH. Q. (ANNUAL) 465 (1987); Julien S. Murphy, Is Pregnancy Necessary? Feminist Concerns about Ectogenesis, 4 HYPATiA 66 (1989). 6. There are various other legal issues with respect to access to this technology and how experi-

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