4 ms·

There's an ongoing and growing debate regarding the ethics of uterus transplantation ("UTx") and specifically male UTx, and it's hard not to read this study in

by themgt 5y ago

There's an ongoing and growing debate regarding the ethics of uterus transplantation ("UTx") and specifically male UTx, and it's hard not to read this study in that light - that the eventual goal of this research is its application to human beings. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6821981/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6821981/ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15532739.2019.1599764 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15532739.2019.1... Uterine transplant offers the same promise of a solution for males or trans individuals wishing to gestate a child as it does for genetic females with UFI. Nevertheless, the Montreal Criteria require that the recipient be a genetic female. This warrants both justification and discussion. To date, only female recipients have been used in animal and human trials of uterine transplant. There are many interesting yet daunting theoretical medical issues concerning uterine transplant with a nongenetic female recipient, including the creation of adequate uterine vascularization de novo, the necessity for appropriate hormone replacement to sustain implantation and pregnancy, and the placement of the uterus in a nongynecoid pelvis. Personally I think society needs to draw a line, somewhere. It's becoming harder to define where that line should be, but this ghoulish commodification of our bodies with its prerequisite torture of countless helpless animals is just not something I can accept as moral. How many tens of thousands of rats and chimps will we need to torture and kill for the patented FDA-approved $5 million male UTx procedure with expected multi-billion annual revenue? In the future will the rich post instagram celebrations of their purchase of a transplanted "surrogate" uterus from a female in need of the money? The transhumanist dream of designer human bodies may eventually be inevitable, but if this is the cost we have to pay to pursue that dream with today's primitive technology, that cost is too high.

aqsalose 5y ago
Despite downvotes, I think this is a reasonable concern, especially concerning all morally grey areas of surrogacy and black areas with current organ harvesting and past forced sterilization programs. Reproductive organs and rights to have them are much more important, so all the moral issues with transplants become more pronounced and important when reproductive organs become potential transplants. What would CCP do in Xinjiang (or any of their death row prisoners) if there were a market for reproductive organ transplants? Voluntary participation in a market for reproductive transplants seems fraught with ethical issues. It is one thing to sell a kidney when you have too, in exchange for some amount of money and possible later health issues, but totally another if you lose the ability produce offspring. Will the hypothetical transplant sellers have position to negotiate in the full price of lost offspring? These issues are too late to be resolved when the technology exists, because at that point there is tremendous pressure for anyone with any power to take the path of least resistance and maybe the largest personal profit. It is possible that the ethical route is not to do some kind of research (because we can), but start developing approaches we not yet can do but would result in a better future.

by themgt 5y ago

aqsalose 5y ago

Despite downvotes, I think this is a reasonable concern, especially concerning all morally grey areas of surrogacy and black areas with current organ harvesting and past forced sterilization programs. Reproductive organs and rights to have them are much more important, so all the moral issues with transplants become more pronounced and important when reproductive organs become potential transplants. What would CCP do in Xinjiang (or any of their death row prisoners) if there were a market for reproductive organ transplants? Voluntary participation in a market for reproductive transplants seems fraught with ethical issues. It is one thing to sell a kidney when you have too, in exchange for some amount of money and possible later health issues, but totally another if you lose the ability produce offspring. Will the hypothetical transplant sellers have position to negotiate in the full price of lost offspring? These issues are too late to be resolved when the technology exists, because at that point there is tremendous pressure for anyone with any power to take the path of least resistance and maybe the largest personal profit. It is possible that the ethical route is not to do some kind of research (because we can), but start developing approaches we not yet can do but would result in a better future.