Would You Use An Artificial Womb? (I Would)

My whole adult life I was told by every doctor that I couldn't have a live birth, that my uterus was inhospitable. When I got pregnant I had no hope, but it was early covid so I stayed home waiting to bleed. At 12 weeks I went in and saw a living fetus. Like a fragile bird in a thorn bush. But I was still told to expect to start bleeding. My dad died and I grieved in quarantine, every doctor appointment I expected to hear bad news. The scar tissue inside of me ripping to accommodate kicks, painfully telling me I was wrong. She was born with lots of medical intervention. But my little NICU baby 🐥 will be turning 1 year old next month. Strong and alive, my daughter is my world. But pregnancy was a living nightmare.

I am absolutely fine with women choosing to have this. My mother had me through IVF so I credit modern science for literally allowing me to exist

I'm a man, and I will never know the joys (or horror to some) of being pregnant and of delivering another human beings in this world. But I know the risk all too well. So props to Cleo for sharing her most vulnerable moment to educate us. On the artificial womb side, my mother is now in her mid 60s and have chronic diabetic neuropathy, and I believe that this comes from delivering me and my younger sister all those years ago. Before she had us, my mother was warned by her OBG/YN that pregnancy and childbirth will be very risky for her due to her narrow hip. She was supposed to have 3 children, but my "younger brother" didn't make it. Delivering me and my sister, 9 years apart, almost cost her own life on both occasions. She bled profusely for days each time and had to stay in the hospital for at least a month post-partum. It always sickens me when people talk about women dying from childbirth as if they're just numbers. It baffles me when women who talks about pregnancy as an "experience" as if they're the only ones who have been through this. That number could have been my mother, and those women probably didn't have to bleed for 3-4 days after C-section. They reject the alternative based on biased tenets, baseless fearmongering, and inflated egocentrism.

As a male, I want to give you supreme credit for sharing this difficult process for you. Most people hide these aspects of their lives, you bring it to the forefront. You help so many, more than you will ever know. Please continue educating the world!

Your ability to tell stories in creative, meaningful, human, ways is so beyond incredible, Cleo. Utterly amazing work!

It cannot have been easy to share something so deeply personal as part of what began as a research project. Kudos Cleo. This is one of the bravest things I've seen on this platform.

As a young man (20), I am incredibly grateful for this video. It has been eye-opening to witness your exploration of this topic from a more nuanced perspective, and the perspective of a woman that one day might want to have children. When I clicked on this video, I was shuddering at the thought of artificial wombs. Now I am almost certain that this is a future technology which should be available to women if they so choose. Thank you for being a pathfinder, a knowledge searcher, and an inspiration to so many people!

I’ve never thought of a artificial womb being weird, and I’m a little scared for my wife to go through that pain. If it saves the mom from pain and helps the baby survive I don’t understand why we wouldn’t want this.

As a man who has 2 amazing girls and watched my wife go through multiple life threatening events.. 1) I would have to take the option of an artificial womb seriously 2) If I had to be the one pregnant and giving birth, I'm fairly sure we would not have done it, but I am absolutely sure we would not have had our second, beautiful daughter. Thanks for the videos, and thank you for what you do to explain and share information.

As a dad who is literally sitting in the NICU with twins born at 26 weeks while watching this, I can say without a doubt I’d use them if available. My little ones will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and are doing good in the incubators, but it’s asking so much of bodies that aren’t supposed to be doing this stuff yet.

My husband and I are in the middle of our trying journey, and endometriosis is making it difficult to get pregnant. I cried after finding out how much they charge to assist in fertility, even WITH coverage. It just doesn’t seem fair. I didn’t expect to click on this video and get emotional, but I’m hugely touched by the men here sharing comments of empathy from their birthing experience with their wives. Having supportive partners and men advocating for women’s health is hugely important and loving. So, thank you.

I'm glad you're okay after surgery. Watching this video brought tears to my eyes. I have been pregnant 5 times, given birth 3 times and miscarried twice. My pregnancies were difficult, two of my births were painful beyond description, and may miscarriages were devastating. I still would sign up for it all again in an instant to have my children. If the technology existed and I needed it, I would use it.

I've heard many stories of mothers passing away during labor and it's terrifying. I couldn't bare to watch my significant other screaming in agony only to be met with complete silence and a flatlining machine. A personal hell, to be frank

I wish this was an option for my wife and I. She had the same surgery Cleo had, except for her it ended up being cancer and she can no longer have children. An artificial womb would be so incredible for us if the tech was there. Hopefully others like us will benefit in the future.

I'm all for it. That quote at the end is exactly how i feel about it, "There is an obligation to relieve suffering when the means to do so are available, or in the abcence of the means, to search for the means." just 100% agree

Cleo, I cried watching you cry. Thank you for being so open and sharing this journey. You are an incredible journalist who puts the brightest possible spin on the scariest concepts. You rock.

My only real concern is I believe that babies in the womb may need to have the feeling of movement and sound from the world outside. Hearing the voice of their parents before they're born might be a really important part of development. I'm just speculating but I think it's worth looking into

The way you put all the perspectives together and compare them and break the topic down so well... It's just amazing. Congrats Cleo, you're doing an awesome job.

I almost lost my wife due to a rare severe childbirth complication, acute fatty liver of pregnancy. Up until the last few weeks, she had a very healthy pregnancy. We were fortunate to be in one of the world’s best hospital networks, UHN in Toronto, Canada. My wife had a cross functional team of 24 physicians, plus nurses and other staff working to save her. I slept on the floor beside her hospital bed in the ICU every night until other family came during the day. I’m normally a typical stoic male. It took 2 years before I could tell this story without crying. Pregnancy should never be that scary. Thankfully, everyone mom and baby, almost 11 years later are doing well.

As a young male exposed to the many sides of the internet, i love your optimism even when going through a tough time, yet you still deliver and share your love for science with us. I hope all is well and you just earned a subscriber