OSU artificial womb conference

Oklahoma State University is at the forefront of a new debate involving reproductive ethics, it concerns an artificial womb. <br><br>Some of the top minds in law, medicine and philosophy met at Tulsa's

Saturday, February 23rd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Oklahoma State University is at the forefront of a new debate involving reproductive ethics, it concerns an artificial womb.

Some of the top minds in law, medicine and philosophy met at Tulsa's Downtown Doubletree Saturday, to talk about the topic known as "ectogenesis," which means birth outside the body.

Scientists in Japan are already developing a prototype of an artificial womb. And some believe it could be reality within six years. Experts say it raises "huge" ethical concerns, maybe even bigger than cloning. Dr. Gregory Pence, University of Alabama: "Everybody's worst nightmare is babies growing in see-thru vats. It just seems to threaten traditional motherhood and gestation, it seems to threaten bonding, it's everything that's not natural, and it scares the hell out of people. But it could be very, very beneficial for babies, it could be beneficial for women who can't conceive otherwise."

Saturdayâ€™s conference is one of the first of its kind. They say there will undoubtedly be much more debate about "ectogenesis" in the future.