What are the ethical, legal, and social debates surrounding artificial womb technology? A scoping review protocol.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ectogenesis-the development of the fetus outside the human uterus-is generally attributed to British scientist J.B.S. Haldane as early as 1924. Although efforts to develop artificial womb technology have seen limited success, a number of recent advances suggest that human clinical trials may become possible. The objective of this scoping review is to identify the ethical, legal, and social debates that have emerged regarding the future prospects of artificial womb technology.

Methods

We will use a pre-defined five-step framework to guide this scoping review. Our primary research question is: "What are the ethical, legal, and social debates surrounding AWT?" We will identify relevant peer-reviewed studies in which the full text is in English from electronic databas

SUBMITTER: Hukku S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12535042 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature