Human Nature: Science, Technology, and Life.

Incubators From Car Parts

Hey, Detroit! We have a new job for you.

Just in time to bail out the auto parts suppliers, Madeline Drexler heralds the latest cool new (or is it old?) idea: car-parts incubators. Here's her description of them in yesterday's Science Times:

The heat source is a pair of headlights. A car door alarm signals emergencies. An auto air filter and fan provide climate control. ... Unlike the notoriously high-maintenance incubators found in neonatal intensive care units in the United States, it is easily repaired, because all of its operational parts come from cars. And while incubators can cost $40,000 or more, this one can be built for less than $1,000. The creators of the car parts incubator ... say it could prevent millions of newborn deaths in the developing world.

We're so used to incubators these days that we've forgotten how radical they are. Their function, Drexler notes, is "providing a warm, clean, womblike environment in which a baby can mature." In short, they're artificial wombs. They don't replicate every function, of course. But for millions of babies who would otherwise die, they replicate enough.

They also destabilize our notions of abortion and infanticide. U.S. abortion laws are organized around viability, the idea that a fetus is entitled to protection when it can survive outside the womb. That's a technical question, and incubators, by creating a kind of womb outside the womb, influence the answer. The earlier they can sustain preemies, the further the line of viability advances.

But that's the fancy far edge of incubator technology. Drexler is talking about something simpler and more immediate: making basic incubation available and functional around the world. Who cares about the latest million-dollar American baby born at 21 weeks when you live in a country where preemies die at 35 weeks? You can't spend that kind of money. You can't even find somebody local to fix a $20,000 incubator. You need an affordable machine that works for most preemies and can be reliably maintained. That's what the car-parts incubator is designed for: babies born at 32 weeks or later.

In the transition from George W. Bush to Barack Obama, we're going to see a big shift in the politics of biotechnology. The conservative preoccupation with technological frontiers will be replaced, for the time being, by a progressive preoccupation with distributive justice. That means less debate about things like future artificial wombs and more attention to things like car-parts incubators. In some ways, it'll be more boring. But tell that to the woman in Indonesia who gets to keep her baby.

A Womb Without a Woman

Today I've been reading up on the trans-Atlantic news about a genetically modified human embryo. I'll have some thoughts on that shortly. In the meantime, while reading Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as part of my research, I noticed what might be a loophole. I'll point it out here, since the bill is being debated by the British parliament right now.

The bill proposes to lift previous restrictions on tinkering with human embryos. To reassure critics and the public, it promises to prevent altered embryos from growing into people. Here's the relevant legislative language:

No person shall place in a woman—

(a) an embryo other than a permitted embryo (as defined by section 3ZA), or

(b) any gametes other than permitted eggs or permitted sperm (as so defined). ...

No person shall place in a woman—

(a) a human admixed embryo,

(b) any other embryo that is not a human embryo, or

(c) any gametes other than human gametes.

Now, here's my question: Is Thomas Beatie a woman? Here's his first-person account, published seven weeks ago in the Advocate:

I am transgender, legally male, and legally married to Nancy. ... Sterilization is not a requirement for sex reassignment, so I decided to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy but kept my reproductive rights. ... I always wanted to have children. However, due to severe endometriosis 20 years ago, Nancy had to undergo a hysterectomy and is unable to carry a child. ... [So] I stopped taking my bimonthly testosterone injections. ... My body regulated itself after about four months, and I didn't have to take any exogenous estrogen, progesterone, or fertility drugs to aid my pregnancy.

How did he get pregnant? By using donated sperm, as millions of women have done. He reports:

On successfully getting pregnant a second time, we are proud to announce that this pregnancy is free of complications and our baby girl has a clean bill of health. ... Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am. In a technical sense I see myself as my own surrogate, though my gender identity as male is constant.

Beatie says his initial attempt at pregnancy produced ectopic triplets, which cost him a fallopian tube and could have killed him. So he has good reasons to do IVF and screen his embryos. Suppose doctors find a genetic flaw in his next embryo and can fix it. That's human germline modification. The British bill says the altered embryo can't be placed in a woman. But under the law, Beatie isn't a woman. He's a man.

I'll let you lawyers sort it out. But it sure looks like a loophole to me.