New reproductive technologies, such as ectogenesis, draw a wedge between the commonly assumed close connection between the foster (fetus) and the gravida (pregnant person). This shift has potential metaphysical implications for how we conceive of their relation, even in cases of natural pregnancy.

Is the foster contained in and distinct from the gravida or do they form a unity? If gestation can happen outside of the human womb, then this seems to support the so-called container model of pregnancy over the parthood model.

This project will use the current philosophical debate about the metaphysics of pregnancy, and technological developments in reproductive sciences, as springboards for discussing the normative consequences of how we fundamentally conceive of the relation between foster and gravida. Whether we opt for a container or a parthood model could have important ethical and legal repercussions. For instance, would seeing the foster as a separate entity mean assigning it more or stronger rights?

This project will bring together scholars from different disciplines who spearhead relevant debates in an academic event to publish their contributions in an edited collection.

Katherine Furman is Lecturer in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Liverpool. Her research areas of specialisation are Applied Ethics, Philosophy and Public Policy, Health Policy, Philosophy of Science and Social Science, and Bioethics.

Thomas Schramme is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool. He specialises in moral and political philosophy, and has a strong interest in philosophy of medicine.

Megan Rawson is a PhD student in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool. Her research considers the ethical implications of metaphysical understandings of pregnancy.

This project involves the development and production of a cutting-edge piece of performance focusing on gene-editing and new reproductive technologies.

The Bell Curves is a performance piece exploring ethical issues raised by CRISPR-cas9 technology, patented by Jennifer Doudna and Emanuella Charpentier. The Bell Curves explores the potentiality of CRISPR with particular interest in issues relating to:

• racialised epigenetics such as the weathering hypothesis;
• reproductive rights and gene therapies: e.g. somatic v heredity treatment and in vitro v ex vivo treatment with specific reference to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy;
• mitochondrial transfer and so-called ‘three-parent babies’.

Written and devised by Keisha Thompson, the piece will be informed by discussion with key academics in the area from the University of Manchester, the Francis Crick Institute, and The Future of Human Reproduction team.

The Bell Curves will be performed between the International Day for Girls in Science (11th Feb 2024) and International Women’s Day (8th March 20234) at the Contact Theatre in Manchester. The performances will be augmented by a ‘wraparound’ series of events seeking to expand upon the key themes of the piece.

The project enables collaboration between artists, genetic counsellors, bioethicists; between academic institutions, research institutes, heritage sites and cultural producers.

Jerome de Groot is Professor of Literature and Culture at the University of Manchester. His primary research interest is in public and popular history, and he recently published ‘Double Helix History’ which examines the relationship between DNA and History since 2000.

The development of an artificial placenta, a machine that can facilitate the gestation of human entities outside the body, is imminent. This technology could help improve outcomes for premature babies and people experiencing dangerous pregnancies. However, it is essential that we consider the clinical translation challenges of the technology.

The primary objective of the study is to explore the ethical and legal problems that arise in the design and clinical translation of artificial placenta technologies as an alternative to conventional neonatal intensive care. The research aims to understand the views of biomedical engineers, scientists, and people who have had children in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) about the technology, ascertaining what features they think it should have, and how it could be accessible to everyone who needs it.

The research seeks to understand the implications of the conceptual distinction between artificial placenta technologies and conventional neonatal intensive care, the appropriate conditions for clinical translation, and the potential challenges that could arise from experimental uses of these technologies.

The study will consist of desk-based research and qualitative empirical work with potential users of the technology, biomedical engineers and scientists to gather data.

Elizabeth Chloe Romanis is Associate Professor in Biolaw at Durham University. Her research is on healthcare law and bioethics with a particular interest in reproduction and the body (abortion, gestation, pregnancy and birth).

Victoria Adkins is Lecturer in Law at the University of Greenwich. Her research explores the views of specific healthcare professionals in relation to the prospect of partial ectogenesis (the partial gestation of a fetus outside of the human body).

As a Visiting Collaborator, Victoria will disseminate the analysis from her PhD research and draw upon the cross-disciplinary nature of The Future of Human Reproduction programme’s membership to establish future research plans.

By way of seminars, she will hold three events to reflect the three main themes from her research which explore the views of healthcare professionals in relation to partial ectogenesis.

The events will involve dissemination of Victoria’s findings as well as interactive workshops for attendees to discuss their responses to the findings and to consider further research that may build upon this.

From her visit, Victoria also hopes to establish and build upon relationships with others in this field, as well as seek to build confidence in her own career path by drawing upon the experience and advice of others.

Victoria Adkins is Lecturer in Law at the University of Greenwich. Her research explores the views of specific healthcare professionals in relation to the prospect of partial ectogenesis (the partial gestation of a fetus outside of the human body).

During her time at Lancaster, Anna will contribute to The Future of Human Reproduction project by bringing the interests of the project into conversation with science fiction scholars. Through an interactive event, collaborative seminars, and a film screening, she will consider how contemporary science fiction understands and interrogates the future possibilities for human reproduction.

Looking at science fiction as a narrative tool for thinking about future health possibilities allows consideration of the technological possibilities alongside the potential social and ethical implications that these possibilities raise. It speaks to the existing scholarly interests of The Future of Human Reproduction investigators while developing literature as a key ground for interrogating futures narratives.

Anna McFarlane is Lecturer in Medical Humanities at the University of Leeds. Her current work focuses on the representation of traumatic pregnancy, particularly in science fiction, and she has published on ectogenesis and gene editing in contemporary British speculative fiction

The regulation of reproduction and parenting in the UK has reinforced traditional biological sex roles, but emerging reproductive technologies challenge this binary understanding of biological sex.

In her forthcoming monograph, Biotechnology, Gestation, and the Law, Chloe explores how future technologies that assist with or replace gestation could promote equality for pregnant people, women, and sexual/gender minorities.

As a part of this book, she considers the impact that novel forms of assisted gestation might have on our understanding of gender/sex in reproducing and parenting. This work addresses important gaps in the literature by highlighting how uterus transplantation and artificial wombs pose a conceptual challenge to contemporary understandings and regulation that cements biological sex as a binary.

Furthermore, Chloe investigates the legal rule ‘the legal mother is always the person who gestated’ and how assigning legal parenthood based on gestation will become more complicated with uterus transplantation and artificial wombs.

Chloe’s objectives during a funded visit at The Future of Human Reproduction project include sharing her existing work and considering how it might contribute to the bigger question of how novel reproductive technologies may impact, and disrupt, binary conceptions of biological sex.

Elizabeth Chloe Romanis is Associate Professor in Biolaw at Durham University. Her research is on healthcare law and bioethics with a particular interest in reproduction and the body (abortion, gestation, pregnancy and birth).