- This yields a child without lots of life baggage? The medical repercussions of gestating in-vitro are not known (and given the complexity of the system, it's all but certain that there will be side-effects). There's a large body of evidence linking in-utero gestation conditions to all manner of pathologies, physical and mental (if such a distinction can even be made). Note that it's not just a question of fetuses being exposed to positively harmful conditions (smoking, cortisol, disease, etc) -- an impoverished sensory environment can be linked to changes in perception at birth.

- Why should the safeguards against child-abuse that are present for contemporary adoption be lifted for cases of adoption ex vitro? What, are abusive parents suddenly going to refrain from abusing in vitro babies?

I don't see how this line of reasoning holds up. It's little more than shoe-horning the present debate into the abortion debate.

And what of what might be best for the child?

Eh, lets consult the oracle? Seriously- one never knows, because its the future- so asking the question is kind of pointless.

We can have a jolly good guess regarding whether people would like to have been carried inside their mother versus gestating inside a plastic bag.

Why would being inside your mother for nine months, which you have no recollection of, be more important than the following years of developing an emotional bond? It's not even about making such children lack the body contact with parents since that only happens after the baby is born.

Anecdotal, but I'd have no feelings about being grown in a bag. I'd be rather happy to know my mother didn't have to suffer through 9 months of pregnancy.

I feel that strong feelings towards these things are a product of culture. Some did some good, like saying the pregnancy is a blessing to make it easier for women to pull through. But with developments like the one described in the article, these cultural norms stop being useful and can be safely dropped.

I think most people would vote for being born and having a nice childhood. Also the bag removes the artificial limitations on brain size that is female hip. Finally, i have seen many woman, who would love to have children, but at the same time are so bound to this sick ideal of being thin and eternally beautiful, they "train" away there children.

I think being born from a bag, is preferabl to not being born at all, any time.

This is ridiculous. Your anecdotal stories about a few thin women isn't harming the general population's fecundity, or even those womens'.

Stampeding over the edge cases, so much fun, until the edge cases trample you.

I would imagine 99.999% of the time adoption is better than being dead.

I would imagine the exact opposite.

Shit life vs a (sentient) life that never begins? Sign me up for the latter.

...because raising a child is such an easy process, it would be terrible if you had to start with one with "life baggage" instead of just being totally helpless, completely unable to be reasoned with or in control of it's basic bodily functions?