Artificial Wombs: Are We Replacing Mothers with Machines?
Brave New Us: Choosing Human in the Age of Biotechnology
What happens when technology designed to save premature babies begins to make pregnancy itself seem optional? In this episode, Samantha Stephenson revisits her 2024 essay Artificial Wombs, Artificial Love and explores what has changed in artificial-womb technology—and what we risk losing if machines begin to replace the maternal womb. From maternal touch and fetal development to surrogacy, genetic selection, and the virtue of parental sacrifice, she asks whether technological progress can ever fully substitute for the embodied reality of pregnancy.In This EpisodeWhat artificial-womb technology can actually do—and where the research is headedWhy the maternal womb cannot simply be reduced to a mechanical environmentMaternal touch, fetal development, and the ethics of experimentationArtificial wombs, surrogacy, and the growing desire to eliminate pregnancyWhat we lose when we replace the sacrifices of parenthood with technological convenienceConnect with Samantha🌿 Newsletter: Choosing Human🎙️ Podcast: Brave New Us📚 Books:Reclaiming Motherhood from a Culture Gone MadThe Bellbind LettersGrow Where You're PlantedThank you for listening.
About Podcast
From gene editing and artificial wombs to brain implants and digital immortality—what does it mean to be human in a world trying to remake us?
Brave New Us explores how emerging technologies are reshaping what it means to be human. Hosted by Catholic bioethicist and author Samantha Stephenson, the podcast sits at the crossroads of faith, science, and ethics, featuring expert interviews and incisive commentary on biotechnology, AI, transhumanism, reproductive technologies, human enhancement, and the moral questions they raise.
Whether you're questioning the ethics of cutting-edge science, navigating a rapidly changing technological world, or simply seeking clarity in an age of unprecedented innovation, Brave New Us will help you think critically, live intentionally, and choose what is deeply human.
Samantha Stephenson holds master's degrees in theology and bioethics, served as a Paul Ramsey Fellow at the Center for Bioethics and Culture, and taught for the McGrath Institute at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of several books helping readers grow in faith and navigate the spiritual and ethical questions shaping our rapidly changing world. In addition to hosting the Brave New Us podcast, Samantha writes the Choosing Human newsletter on Substack where she explores faith, family, and the future of being human. Learn more at www.snstephenson.com.
Subscribe now—and stay human in an age that’s forgetting how.