
I remember the moment of Alice’s breakthrough distinctly, because in her enthusiasm she spilled coffee all over my brand new health monitoring watch and I noted the time as I reached for a tissue, to remove the coffee stains. I remember the month and day of the breakthrough because it was my first day working at Bio inc. I remember the year, because it was the year I graduated with a PhD. in genetic engineering, top of my class. At precisely 22:03, on October 13, 2050, the first human was conceived in the labs of Bio Inc. and survived.
Extracorporeal medical treatment had been around for decades, the iron lung for example. The first patent for an artificial womb was filed in 1954 by Emanuel M. Greenberg. In 1996 a project led by Yoshinori Kuwabara at Juntendo University developed the extra-uterine fetal incubation to aid in the development of immature newborns. In 2017 this research was further developed by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, using lamb fetuses. By 2030 the scientific knowledge to create an artificial-exowomb had developed to the extent that a fetus could be transferred from the mother’s womb to the exowomb and survive and develop.
In the 2040’s, a large outcry by radical feminists on social media, together with protests and riots by university students, demanding extracorporeal wombs as a right for all women led to $ trillions in government grants pouring into corporate entities to develop the first fully functioning exowomb. The race was on.
The technology of the exowomb allowed for the provision of nutrients and oxygen to nurture the fetus, protected by an amniotic tank, as well as disposal of the waste material. The big drawback was developing a sustainable artificial fallopian tube which would hold the fertilized egg for the required 3-4 days before being pushed into the exowomb. The successful penetration of an egg in the artificial fallopian tube, the transformation to a blastocyst, and the subsequent move down the tube to the exowomb was successfully implemented by Doctor Alice Walker on October 13, 2050.
This technology was steadily improved over the next 50 years, while social conditions changed to adapt to these new reproductive processes. Corporations took over human reproduction and over time, successfully lobbied government for powers to curtail women giving birth by natural means. This led to the reproduction act of 2089 which laid out the penalties for natural birth, including the termination of the child.
In 2095 Bio Inc. bought out the last of its competitors and became the sole source for the continuance of the human species. They formed a task force jointly with the World Council to further study methods of improving human biology. This led to several recommendations. Some of these recommendations included, vaccinating the fetus against various deceases, eliminating fetuses with any defect, equalizing the amount of melanin produced, removal of the uterus in 98% of females and limiting world population to 10 billion. They allowed that 2% of females would be sufficient for the harvesting of eggs for future generations.
So here I sit in the World Council Chamber waiting for my committee members to convene for our meeting on sustainable population control and thinking of the progress we humans have made in the last 50 years, since Alice spilled coffee over my watch. It’s so good to be alive in these enlightened times.
Disturbing and yet…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Kate. I had in mind a bleak parody of human behaviour when I wrote this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed that, very dystopian.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. The dehumanization of the human race was the point I was trying to make.
LikeLike
Whew!!! Takes me back to all my fav dystopian books and flicks, so that was right up my alley! Great writing. I love the character’s last line. It’s a doozy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for your kind comments. The last line was intentional parody to what some call enlightened views when manipulating the human body for scientific research.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes — it was a great message and way to wrap the thought process of the protagonist.
LikeLike
Wow, how sardonically prophetic, Len. Here’s the phrase that especially gets to me for its timeliness: “eliminating fetuses with any defect.” We’ll dealing with this now. And if it ever becomes law, then that will be the answer to the challenge of having babies with disabilities, because we simply won’t have them. I don’t know what this means for my friends who have Down’s Syndrome. They are funny, irascible, disciplined, smart, and loving. I guess we simply won’t have these with all their qualities and contributions.
Orwell, move over. You’ve given a fictive depiction of the question for human perfection. The most dangerous thing is that we might get it.
Hope your weeks if off to a good start!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Christopher, you put it so succinctly. That was exactly the point of this little parody. The minority of people who scream the loudest on certain issues get all the attention and funding from the government. When writing this I was thinking of the number of babies aborted, gender reassignment for young children, using fetal tissue as a cure for certain illnesses, to name a few.
LikeLike
Bleak with a capital ‘B’!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Tim. Exactly what I was aiming for.
LikeLike
This is some fantastic writing, Len! Bravo!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Gary. Glad you liked it. Not to everybody’s taste, I’m sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I do lots of stuff that is not to everyone’s taste! I really thought this was just top of the shelf writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person