不久前，孕妇跳楼自杀一事引发了大家对于生育、生命的掌控权的讨论。躺在手术台上，也许决定自己生命的人不再是你。那如果有了人造子宫呢？世界会发生怎样的变化？女性不再需要怀胎九月，不再需要面对休产假的不公问题，不再需要烦恼顺产还是剖腹产。如果人造子宫技术成熟，社会会更平等么？
拥有人造子宫会是什么体验?
译者：
尹子梦
校对：王乐颖
词汇：
李林治
策划：朱宇晴
Artificial wombs could soon be a reality. What will this mean for women?
人造子宫将很快变成现实。这将对女人意味着什么？
本文选自
The Guardian
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We are approaching a biotechnological
breakthrough
.
Ectogenesis
, the invention of a complete external womb, could completely change the nature of human reproduction. In April this year, researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia announced their development of an artificial womb. The “biobag” is intended to improve the survival rates of premature babies and is a significant step forward from conventional incubators. Their results show that lambs (at the equivalent of a premature human foetus of 22-24 weeks) are able to successfully grow in the biobag, with the oldest lamb now more than one year old.
我们即将取得一项生物技术的
突破
。
体外育儿
，这项完全位于体外子宫的发明，将彻底改变人类生殖的本质。今年四月，费城儿童医院的研究员宣布了他们研究人造子宫的进展。这个“生物袋”将提高早产儿的存活率，并意味着传统的恒温箱向前迈出了重要的一步。研究结果显示，小羊（相当于22-24周的人类早产胎儿）能顺利地在生物袋里生长，最大的小羊已经一岁多了。
Ectogenesis
/
,ɛktə'dʒɛnɪsɪs/ n.
(from the Greek
ecto
, "outer," and
genesis
) is the removal of fetal gestation from women's bodies to laboratories体外繁殖
Researchers at Cambridge University, meanwhile, have also kept a human
embryo
alive outside the body for 13 days using a mix of nutrients that
mimic
conditions in the womb. The embryo survived several days longer than previously observed and research only stopped because they were approaching the 14-day legal limit for the length of time an embryo can be kept in a lab. In other words, our ethics rather than our technology are now the limiting factor.
同时，剑桥大学的研究员也通过使用
模仿
子宫环境的混合营养素，使一个人类
胚胎
在体外存活了13天。这个胚胎比过去的研究存活时间长了好几天，而且研究中止只是因为法律规定胚胎在实验室中最长只能培育14天。换句话说，目前限制此项科技的是伦理准则而非技术。
embryo
/embrɪəu/ n. young animal or plant in the early stages of its development before birth (or before coming out of its egg or seed) 胚; 胚胎; 萌芽时期
The key to survival through ectogenesis is reproducing the conditions of the womb. As scientists become better at that, the gap between the longest time embryos can survive and the earliest time a
foetus
is
viable
will narrow. When the two timescales meet, we will have the technology for a complete external womb.
体外育儿存活的关键在于重现子宫环境。随着科学家的技术不断提高，胚胎可存活的最长时间和
胎儿
能
成活
的最早时间之间的间隔将缩短。当这两个时间重合，我们将掌握完全体外子宫的技术。
foetus
/ ˈfiːtəs/ n. human, animal, bird, etc that has developed within the womb or egg but has not yet been born or hatched 胎儿; 胚胎
viable
/ ˈvaɪəbl/ adj.
biology
生) capable of developing and surviving independently 能自行生长发育的
It is exactly this kind of scientific discovery that I imagined for my novel, The Growing Season. In a world that is still similar to present day, the recent invention of an external womb known as the “baby pouch” is changing society. For some, it has brought equality, freedom and choice, while for others the implications are much more frightening. This world is perhaps only decades away from our own; what will happen when our version of the baby pouch arrives?
这就是我在我的小说《生长季节》中所想象的那种科学发现。在一个与当今很相似的世界里，外部子宫——“育儿袋” 这一新发明正改变着社会。对一些人来说，它带来了平等、自由和选择，但对其他人来说，则有着更可怕的后果。这个世界可能距我们的现实世界只相隔几十年，现实版的育儿袋出现时将会怎样？
There will be amazing medical benefits: it could save the lives of premature babies, help infertile couples, give gay and trans people new
fertility
options and enable older parents to have children. It could offer a safer alternative to traditional pregnancy and childbirth and provide a healthier environment for the foetus by eliminating the risks of drugs or alcohol and providing an ideal balance of nutrients, temperature, movement and sound. But where do we draw the line between ensuring healthy development and only having children deemed to be the “healthiest”? Who decides which type of pregnancy is “best” – women or men? Doctors? Religious leaders? Employers?
未来会出现很棒的医疗福利：人造子宫可以挽救早产儿的生命、帮助不孕不育的夫妇、给同性恋和变性人新的
生育
选择、让高龄夫妇抱上孩子。它能为传统的妊娠和分娩提供更安全的替代选择，通过消除毒品和酒精的风险、提供营养物、温度、运动和声音的理想平衡给胎儿一个更健康的环境。但我们该如何在确保健康的发育和只要“最健康的”孩子之间划界限呢？谁来决定哪种妊娠方式是“最好的”？——女人还是男人？医生？宗教领袖？还是雇主？
fertility
/fer·til·i·ty/ n. a woman's ability to have babies可繁殖性
There is a danger that whoever pays for the technology behind ectogenesis would have the power to decide how, when and for whose benefit it is used. It could be the state or private insurance companies trying to avoid the unpredictable costs of traditional childbirth. Or, it could become yet another advantage available only to the privileged, with traditional pregnancies becoming associated with poverty, or with a particular class or race. Would babies
gestated
externally have advantages over those born via the human body? Or, if artificial gestation turns out to be cheaper than ordinary pregnancy, could it become an economic necessity forced on some?
有可能，体外育儿技术的金主将有能力决定这一技术如何、何时以及为谁而使用。国有或私人保险公司将试图以此逃避传统分娩中的不可预计费用。或者，随着传统妊娠变得与贫穷、或特定的阶层或种族相联系，它可能会成为专属上层阶层的又一特权。体外孕育的孩子会比从人体出生的孩子更有优势吗？又或者，如果人工妊娠比普通妊娠更便宜，那它会成为经济必需品而被强加到一些人身上吗？
gestate
/dʒesˈteɪt/ v. to carry a young human or animal inside the womb until it is born 怀孕；妊娠；孕育
But an external womb could also lead to a new equality in parenthood and consequently change the structure of our working and private lives. Given time, it could
dismantle
the gender hierarchies within our society. Given more time, it could eliminate the differences between the sexes in our biology. Once parental roles are equal, there will be no excuse for male-dominated boardrooms or political parties, or much of the other blatant inequality we see today.
但体外子宫也能在父母身份上带来新的平等，从而改变我们的工作和私人生活结构。随着时间推移，它能逐渐
消除
我们社会中的性别不平等。如果时间更久一些，它还能消除我们生物学上的性别差异。一旦男女生育角色平等，如今全是男性的会议室、政党或很多其他公然的不平等，都将不再有出现的理由。
dismantle
/ dɪsˈmæntl/ v. to end an organization or system gradually in an organized way 废除
Women’s rights are never more
emotive
than when it comes to a woman’s right to choose. While pregnancy occurs inside a woman’s body, women have some control over it, at least. But what happens when a foetus can survive entirely outside the body? How will our legislation stand up when viability begins at conception? There are fundamental questions about what rights we give to embryos outside the body (think of the potential for harvesting “spare parts” from unwanted foetuses). There is also the possibility of pro-life activists welcoming this process as an alternative to abortion – with, in the worst case, women being forced to have their foetuses
extracted
