Over the years, the numerous advancements in technology that we have seen have been almost impossible to keep up with. Humanity has been able to accomplish things that at one time would have been considered unachievable. These advancements in technology have impacted us in many positive ways, such as making our lives easier and helping us live longer. Recently, there have been discussions regarding technology advancing to a point where it has gone too far and violates moral and ethical boundaries. Some would say that it is not a matter of if, but when it will get there!
Lisa Mandemaker is working with Maxima Medical Centre to create the first artificial womb for humans. On her website, lisamandemaker.com, she states positive outcomes like saving babies born prematurely or fixing/preventing genetic defects or diseases. Progress has already been made to accomplish that particular goal. In 2016, beckershospitalreview.com reported that the first ever three-parent baby was born using genetic engineering. This was done to prevent flaws in the mitochondria that can cause serious illness or death. The article states: “The technique that led to the baby boy’s birth was to move the DNA from an egg of the mother, who had mutated mitochondria, and place it in the egg of a healthy egg donor—after first removing the healthy donor’s nuclear DNA from her egg cell. That egg was then fertilized.” If procedures like this were to become normalized and taken one step further so babies are able to be born with DNA from multiple parents, this inevitably raises questions regarding parental rights!
At first, it may appear that Lisa Mandemaker’s goal of being able to carry a baby to term in an artificial womb is a positive thing, but the reality of the world that she wants to create tells a different story. On the Reprodutopia section of her website, she goes on to state: “Emerging reproductive technologies such as artificial wombs, genetic editing techniques, and artificial sperm and egg cells will not only affect the ways in which we have babies. Their use will change our experience of sexuality, gender, relationships, and family. We are challenged to rethink what is ‘natural’ and what it means to be human in a highly technological environment.
New questions arise: should men be able to get pregnant and carry a baby? How would you choose your partners when you no longer need them to produce offspring? And should your kin even be humans?
The Reprodutopia Clinic presents the thought-provoking visions of artists and designers; some could be perceived as dark or uncanny, while others might be seen as hopeful dreams about freedom, equality, and diversity. All are created to start a much-needed debate to help us make better decisions about what reproductive futures we actually want.
In a video on bbc.com titled “The World’s First Artificial Womb for Humans,” Lisa said, “I imagine further down in the future an artificial womb could become part of a lifestyle choice for women. Because you don’t have to worry about the morning sickness, changes into your body. I think it could be very interesting for some people like, if you think about gay men. I feel like there’s this narrative in society that there is this ideal of natural reproduction. Natural reproduction is not the only way.”
Mandemaker’s motivations plainly fall in line with the “progressive” agenda of eroding the nuclear family and bring us one step closer to the end goal of transhumanism. If babies are able to be carried to full term in an artificial womb, the consequences could lead to a world where the entire concept of having children is turned on its head and becomes unrecognizable and unthinkable!
Corporations and wealthy individuals could easily buy massive quantities of artificial wombs, and babies could be placed in them whose lives otherwise would have been ended through abortion. In states where abortion is legal until birth, this raises a question regarding the legality of ending that baby’s life, since a baby could potentially be kept in an artificial womb for longer than nine months. Big Pharma and the scientific community would be sure to push the boundaries and grow babies in the womb to have their organs harvested and used for experimentation and research. This would inevitably be a multibillion-dollar industry.
Babies that are brought to full term in an artificial womb and then raised by their parents would likely still be subject to experimentation and massive data collection. There are endless scenarios regarding what can be done through genetic engineering, possibly even attempts to invent new genders. It is almost inevitable that babies will be subject to things like brain chipping or microtechnology being inserted into their genome to bring about what transhumanists call the “internet of bodies.”
In his essay “Politics,” Aristotle proclaims that man is by nature political. Through nature, a husband and wife have a baby and start a family. Multiple couples do this, and more families are created. Groups of families form a village, and villages form city states. Villages and city-states create various levels of government, and this is why man is by nature political. The very first authority that exists is the authority that parents have over their children, and governments get their authority through the natural process mentioned previously. The reason that legitimate authority exists on this earth is because it is an extension of the authority that parents have over their children.
This is why the artificial womb is not simply an attack on the nuclear family, but by extension is an attack on our institution of civil government, and therefore an attack on all our God-given rights that government is instituted to protect. If natural production is eroded to a point where a majority of babies are pre-ordered and made with genetic material from multiple people or animals, or even artificial intelligence, then parental rights and all other natural rights are therefore eroded as well. The artificial womb would fulfill the Marxist goal of overthrowing domestic institutions and civil government. It would likely lead to a world where, through a technocratic partnership, governments and corporations would end up controlling or raising children.
The possibility of babies being raised in the artificial womb is so real that it must be acknowledged that it may become a reality in the near future. The day may even come where it is considered more “dangerous” to carry a baby to term in a mother’s uterus compared to an artificial womb. Naturally, raising a baby in the mother’s womb could even become an “unapproved” medical practice, and insurance may not cover childbirth unless it is done through an artificial womb. In the name of freedom, equality, diversity, and even “reproductive rights,” we may be allowing a future that ends up creating irreversible damage and therefore giving us the exact opposite.
Brandon is a freelance journalist based in the metro-Milwaukee area. His work has been featured in Liberty Sentinel Media, Wisconsin Conservative Digest, and Reality News Media. He has worked full-time in politics for six years. This includes leading successful campaigns for legislatures at the state and congressional levels and successful deployments to get bills passed in Kentucky and Texas. In his spare time, he enjoys weightlifting, running, hiking, and listening to classic rock.