page_title: Artificial womb
hierarchical_section_title: Artificial womb
caption_attribution_description: English: Figure 1&#160;: UA/UV Biobag system design. From: An extra-uterine system to physiologically support the extreme premature lamb By: Partridge, Emily A.; Davey, Marcus G.; Hornick, Matthew A.; McGovern, Patrick E.; Mejaddam, Ali Y.; Vrecenak, Jesse D.; Mesas-Burgos, Carmen; Olive, Aliza; Caskey, Robert C.; Weiland, Theodore R.; Han, Jiancheng; Schupper, Alexander J.; Connelly, James T.; Dysart, Kevin C.; Rychik, Jack; Hedrick, Holly L.; Peranteau, William H.; Flake, Alan W. (25 April 2017). "An extra-uterine system to physiologically support the extreme premature lamb". 8. The Author(s): 15112. Retrieved 2018-01-18. "This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License."
context_page_description: An artificial uterus is a device that would allow for extracorporeal pregnancy by growing a fetus outside the body of an organism that would normally carry the fetus to term.
  An artificial uterus, as a replacement organ, would have many applications. It could be used to assist male or female couples in the development of a fetus. This can potentially be performed as a switch from a natural uterus to an artificial uterus, thereby moving the threshold of fetal viability to a much earlier stage of pregnancy. In this sense, it can be regarded as a neonatal incubator with very extended functions. It could also be used for the initiation of fetal development. An artificial uterus could also help make fetal surgery procedures at an early stage an option instead of having to postpone them until term of pregnancy.
  In 2016 scientists published two studies regarding human embryos developing for thirteen days within an ecto-uterine environment. Currently, a 14-day rule prevents human embryos from being kept in artificial wombs longer than 14 days. This rule has been codified into law in twelve countries.
context_section_description: An artificial uterus (or artificial womb) is a device that would allow for extracorporeal pregnancy by growing a fetus outside the body of an organism that would normally carry the fetus to term.
  An artificial uterus, as a replacement organ, would have many applications. It could be used to assist male or female couples in the development of a fetus. This can potentially be performed as a switch from a natural uterus to an artificial uterus, thereby moving the threshold of fetal viability to a much earlier stage of pregnancy. In this sense, it can be regarded as a neonatal incubator with very extended functions. It could also be used for the initiation of fetal development. An artificial uterus could also help make fetal surgery procedures at an early stage an option instead of having to postpone them until term of pregnancy.
  In 2016 scientists published two studies regarding human embryos developing for thirteen days within an ecto-uterine environment. Currently, a 14-day rule prevents human embryos from being kept in artificial wombs longer than 14 days. This rule has been codified into law in twelve countries.
  In 2017 fetal researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia published a study showing they had grown premature lamb fetuses for four weeks in an extra-uterine life support system.
caption: Figure from a 2017 Nature Communications paper describing an extra-uterine life support system, or "biobag", used to grow lamb fetuses.[1]
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