DE-GENDERING GESTATION: THE FINAL IMPETUS FOR DECRIMINALISING ABORTION

This thesis considers the development of two assisted gestative technologies, artificial wombs and uterine transplants, and their potential impact on abortion regulation. In light of the recent increase in abortion prosecutions in 2023, an inquiry into how abortion law could be reformed is beneficial. It is presented throughout this thesis that arguments for reform, specifically decriminalisation, could be bolstered by the advent of artificial wombs and uterine transplants. This thesis explores how artificial wombs and uterine transplants will alter the gestational process. It presents the practical impact of gestation no longer being attached to assigned biological sex and considers how this may inform social perceptions of gestation as a gendered process. Ultimately, it suggests that artificial wombs and uterine transplants have the capacity to detach gestation in practice from those assigned female at birth, and in social consciousness from women. After acknowledging the impact of sex and gender norms on existing legal structures, this thesis goes on to explore the extent to which gestation detached from sex and gender may impact on abortion regulation. It considers not only pre-existing arguments for reform, but also presents that artificial wombs and uterine transplants, by detaching gestation from sex and gender, may bolster calls for the decriminalisation of abortion in England and Wales. Ultimately, this thesis finds that artificial wombs and uterine transplants will impact on the gestative sphere in a manner that renders current abortion regulation inadequate. Reform is necessary, and this thesis presents how the advent of novel assisted gestative technologies may support calls for decriminalisation.