A professor has suggested brain dread women could be used as surrogate mothers in hospital.
In a recent paper published by The Colombian Medical College discussing whole body gestational donation (WBGD), the piece talked about women who had given prior consent to become surrogates before becoming long-term comatose.
The lead author of the article, Norway-based academic Anna Smajdor, an associate professor at the University of Oslo, posed the controversial question.
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“What about all those brain-stem dead female bodies in hospital beds? Why should their wombs be going to waste?” She wrote.
She proposed 'long-term ventilation' so that embryos could be inserted into womens' uteri.
"Female patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) who had given prior written consent, could function as surrogates: embryos would be placed in the woman’s uterus and gestated to term,” she said.
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Dr Smajdor added the consent would be similar to those who had opted to become organ donors if they were to die or be in a (PVS).
She said it would be a solution to help infertile couples as well as eliminate pregnancy risks.
She continued: “Concerted medical efforts are focused on ridding ourselves of measles, while women are expected to submit themselves to the greater risks of pregnancy and childbirth almost without thinking about it.”
She added: “We cannot yet forego the uterus altogether for the reproduction of our species.
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“But we can transfer the risks of gestation to those who are no longer able to be harmed by them.”
Dr Smajdor also said these brain-dead surrogates would be ‘under absolute medical control and surveillance’.
Shortly after the paper was released, it caused an uproar on social media.
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One user wrote: "I was so horrified by this I had to check it for myself. A future in which poor countries where women's lives are cheap have WBGD battery farms of comatose women being used year after year as brain-dead surrogates for rich couples in the West?"
Another said: “Ok well this is me letting the world know that if I ever end up brain dead, you better not use my goddamn body for surrogacy.”
While Colombian member of Congress Jennifer Pedraza called slammed the idea as 'misogynistic'.
According to The Telegraph, she said: “Women are not utensils to be thrown away after use; women have human rights, even if some people forget this.”
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While the university initially defended the paper, they eventually issued an apology, citing they would only encourage ‘medical progress at the service of humanity [at] the highest bio-ethical standards’, as per Inkl.
Charisa Bossinakis