Robo-mommy?

By: Steve Huston

In an article published by Bio Med Central on July 17, 2025, the general issue of rising global infertility, and specifically that in China, was addressed at length. Here is an excerpt from their introduction: “Over the past few decades, the global infertility rate has been steadily rising due to a combination of factors, including lifestyle changes, delayed marriage, and environmental influences. The WHO has predicted that infertility could become the third most common global health issue, following cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In China, the prevalence of infertility has increased dramatically, rising from 7.5% in 2007 to 18.2% in 2020, now affecting approximately one in five couples of reproductive age. However, infertility is far more than a medical condition—it carries profound emotional and social implications. It places immense strain on individuals’ mental health, disrupts family dynamics, and exerts pressure on societal structures. For affected couples, the combination of emotional distress and financial burden often results in a significantly reduced quality of life. If left unaddressed, infertility could evolve into a larger public health challenge with widespread consequences.” (Emphases added)

Unless one has personally experienced barrenness (infertility), it’s impossible to understand the emotional strain it can have on a couple or even an extended family. If one doesn’t challenge himself to think beyond the immediate impact of the moment, it’s extremely difficult to more fully comprehend what the community and national consequences of infertility and abortion have upon a land: economically, psychologically, socially, to the work force, emotional and religious impacts, and these are just the tip of this titanic iceberg.

Certainly, sad and heartbreaking for the couple and a warning sign for a nation or the world, but what’s the solution?

Barrenness was an issue in Bible times, as well. Israel’s first patriarch, Abraham, was promised by God that his wife Sarah would have a son, even though she had been barren her whole life and now was past the possibility of child-bearing. Yet, God was true to His Word; she and Abraham had the promised son.

In Genesis 30, Jacob – Israel’s third patriarch, had a wife named Rachael who was barren. Her response? Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.” Jacob rightly pointed her to the correct solution: “Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?”

Even after such a correct response, instead of pouring their hearts out to God, the chapter continues with man’s solution to God’s design.

Since those days, man has turned to artificial insemination, surrogacy, and in vitro fertilization (IVF). With each new technology comes moral and ethical questions that the church should prayerfully and Biblically consider, instead of leaving it up to the scientists and ethicists of the world to work out for us. Also, one must consider the dangers of commodifying God’s precious gift of life.

Next stop on the road to fertility? “Pregnancy robots!” Our readers may be as shocked as I was to read this. My mind quickly went to Huxley’s Brave New World, where all children were incubated in artificial wombs and women were forbidden to get pregnant.

Chosun Biz reports on these gestational bots: “Zhang Qifeng [is] a PhD at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, who is developing the pregnancy robot. The pregnancy robot he envisions is not an incubator but a humanoid, with a womb in its abdomen that can replicate the entire process from conception to delivery.

 “The key to the pregnancy robot is the ‘artificial womb’ technology, where the fetus grows inside the artificial womb filled with artificial amniotic fluid and receives nutrients through a hose. Dr. Zhang noted, ‘The artificial womb technology is already in a mature stage, and now it needs to be implanted in the robot’s abdomen so that a real person and the robot can interact to achieve pregnancy, allowing the fetus to grow inside.’”

That still sounds absurd, but Dr. Qifeng’s plan is for his work to come to fruition next year; such “pregnancy robots” will be able to carry a fetus for 10 months, before giving birth.

The interview video with Dr. Qifeng was posted on the social media platform Weibo and the Chosun Biz article gives several of the many, many comments left by viewers. Though there were some dissenters, the majority were in favor of this new technology, with one person stating, “Women have finally been liberated.”

With increasing infertility rates in China and around the world, that could be a real game-changer, especially considering the cost. Hiring a “pregnancy robot” to carry one’s baby will only cost about $14,000, compared to U.S. human surrogates, costing between $100,000 to $200,000.

It’s vital that the church Biblically addresses the moral and ethical questions that abound. IVF questions should have been addressed by the church early on, instead of playing catch-up in recent months and years. Here are a few of the many questions and considerations that require us to think Biblically about “Pregnancy Robots”:

How will being incubated inside a robot affect the child during pregnancy and after its born? What of the God-placed natural bond formed between mother and child (and father and child) during gestation? How could the chemical and emotional interactions between mother and fetus possibly be replicated? And if not, then how will these affect the child in the “womb” and once it’s born?

Perhaps the biggest question is: “At what point will we stop playing god?”

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