This machine could keep a baby alive outside the womb. How will the world decide to use it?

For parents who have buried infants born too soon, a device like the AquaWomb is a miracle in waiting – and an impossible choice

Beth Schafer lay in a hospital bed, bracing for the birth of her son. The first contractions rippled through her body before she felt remotely ready. She knew, with a mother’s pit-of-the-stomach intuition, that her baby was not ready either.

At just 23 weeks of gestation, her son teetered on the cliff edge of viability, the fragile threshold where modern medicine offers any promise of keeping babies alive.

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​For parents who have buried infants born too soon, a device like the AquaWomb is a miracle in waiting – and an impossible choiceBeth Schafer lay in a hospital bed, bracing for the birth of her son. The first contractions rippled through her body before she felt remotely ready. She knew, with a mother’s pit-of-the-stomach intuition, that her baby was not ready either.At just 23 weeks of gestation, her son teetered on the cliff edge of viability, the fragile threshold where modern medicine offers any promise of keeping babies alive. Continue reading…