Defining the threshold of birth: ethical introduction of artificial placenta and artificial womb technology in the...

Artificial amnion and placenta technology (AAPT), also colloquially referred to as artificial womb technology, will likely move into first-in-human trials in the next few years. The results of the AAPT animal trials inspired numerous commentaries in the ethics literature, with some ethicists and philosophers advocating for the creation of a new "status of being" to describe a patient supported by AAPT. Proposed states of being include terms such as: "gestateling" (a fetus outside the womb) or "fetonate" (a neonate with full human rights but retained fetal physiology). Adopting the "gestateling" paradigm would require changing the accepted definition of birth and raise important implications for the "gestateling's" humanness and legal personhood. Here, we address the ethical and legal implications of the terminology debate and propose two key recommendations to govern the ethical introduction of AAPT into clinical practice: namely, medical innovation cannot abrogate personhood, and AAPT is a means of rescue.