Uterus in a box
3/28/26
According to a report in the MIT Technology Review1 la human uterus has been kept alive outside the body for the first time.
The uterus survived for “1 day”2 though the scientists behind the experiment hope to extend that to a month in order to “study the menstrual cycle”. At the end of the piece they state that they hope to be able to gestate a whole person eventually.
The machine keeping it alive resembles (according to the reporter) a metal box on the wheels and strictly speaking the uterus lives on top of rather than in it. This machine is called PUPER (Preservation of the Uterus in PERfusion). Horrifyingly the team have nicknames it “Mother”.
I can’t decide how I feel about the medical achievement this represents. There are plenty of potential positives:
- it could provide a route to parenthood for those who can’t carry their own baby (providing, for those that can afford it, a human free surrogate)
- it could potentially be used to keep alive babies who would otherwise die, either because of the death of the person carrying them or causing it3
- it could be used to study the menstrual cycle, and development of uterine diseases
But what about the negatives?
Pregnancy isn’t just about incubation, the process involves the release of hormones at the right moments, the transfer of antibodies. Babies are talked to, and around, they are stroked and swayed, sung to. There is human contact even when they’re cocooned within.
There are already some interesting choices made around the bodies of those who are seriously ill, or even dead4, and pregnant. What choices will be made around saving the person if the foetus can be saved regardless? And what will be the impact on the resultant baby?
Will some jurisdictions choose to make abortion illegal because there is never a situation in which a “baby” can’t survive? What will the impact of that be on those who find themselves pregnant and don’t want to be? Will they be forced into a choice between “donating” their uterus or carrying a pregnancy they didn’t want.
Will menstruation and uterine diseases actually be studied? Will this lead to better care for those who suffer from them?
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MIT Technology Review: A woman’s uterus has been kept alive outside the body for the first time ↩︎
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they don’t say how they’re defining a day: 8 hours? 12? 24? Who knows? ↩︎
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I’m not using mother or even parent here because being either of those is about more than giving birth. For example a surrogate is likely not going to be either of those things for the child they are carrying, someone who gives their new born up for adoption (no judgement) will not take that role in their child’s life. I’m also not using woman because you don’t have to be a woman to have a uterus (biology is complicated ok). ↩︎
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BBC: Baby of brain-dead woman delivered in Georgia, woman’s mother says ↩︎