Artificial Wombs, Change-of-Location Birth, and Infanticide

There has been much discussion about the impact artificial wombs will have on debates in reproductive ethics. One area of discussion has been whether transferring fetuses to artificial wombs should be considered a form of birth, and, if so, whether killing or allowing them to die is infanticide. This article proposes two interventions into this debate. Much of it challenges a view espoused by Nick Colgrove, Daniel Rodger, and Bruce Blackshaw, who argue that birth occurs whenever fetuses are relocated from in utero to ex utero environments. This view is shown to have problematic implications. This article's later sections propose some more general recommendations for discussions about artificial wombs and infanticide. A common refrain among them is that artificial wombs are unlikely to alter drastically the morality of when it is permissible to kill a fetus-cum-infant by expanding the range of beings who can be victims of infanticide.