[2] An artificial uterus or incubator can also serve as a tool for wildlife conservation and de-extinction by eliminating the need for surrogate animals and mass-increasing numbers for critically endangered species such as the sand tiger shark.

[7][8] In 2017, fetal researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia published a study showing they had grown premature lamb fetuses for four weeks in an extra-uterine life support system.

[2] Artificial supply and disposal have the potential advantage of allowing the fetus to develop in an environment that is not influenced by the presence of disease, environmental pollutants, alcohol, or drugs which a human may have in the circulatory system.

In a normal uterus, the myometrium of the uterine wall functions to expel the fetus at the end of a pregnancy, and the endometrium plays a role in forming the placenta.

This will greatly affect the substantiated human involvement during gestation, making it an extracorporeal event and thus completely transforming the conventional notion of pregnancy.

The design itself included a tank to place the fetus filled with amniotic fluid, a machine connecting to the umbilical cord, blood pumps, an artificial kidney, and a water heater.

[1][10] The system consist in 3 main components: a pumpless arteriovenous circuit, a closed sterile fluid environment and an umbilical vascular access.

Regarding the pumpless arteriovenous circuit, the blood flow is driven exclusively by the fetal heart, combined with a very low resistance oxygenator to most closely mimic the normal fetal/placental circulation.

[29] The umbilical cord of the lambs are attached to a machine outside of the bag designed to act like a placenta and provide oxygen and nutrients and also remove any waste.

[29] Alan Flake, a fetal surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia hopes to move testing to premature human fetuses, but this could take anywhere from three to five years to become a reality.

[10] In 2021, a start-up company founded by Benn Lamm and George Church, Colossal Biosciences began research and development of artificial animal wombs to further de-extinction and conservation efforts for species such as the woolly mammoth and northern white rhinoceros.

The perinatal life support (PLS) system will be developed using breakthrough technology: a manikin will mimic the infant during testing and training, advanced monitoring and computational modeling will provide clinical guidance.

Together, the PLS partners provide joint medical, engineering, and mathematical expertise to develop and validate the Perinatal Life Support system using breakthrough simulation technologies.

This project, coordinated by the Eindhoven University of Technology brings together world-leading experts in obstetrics, neonatology, industrial design, mathematical modelling, ex vivo organ support, and non-invasive fetal monitoring.

[36][37] The development of artificial uteri and ectogenesis raises bioethical and legal considerations, and also has important implications for reproductive rights and the abortion debate.

[38] Implementing artificial wombs would require advanced technology and significant costs, potentially limiting access for people in developing countries or with fewer resources.

[41] In the 1970 book The Dialectic of Sex, feminist Shulamith Firestone wrote that differences in biological reproductive roles are a source of gender inequality.

"[42][43] Arathi Prasad argues in her column on The Guardian in her article "How artificial wombs will change our ideas of gender, family and equality" that "[i]t will ... give men an essential tool to have a child entirely without a woman, should they choose.