Cyborg Bonding: 3D Fetal Ultrasound as a Technology of Communication and the Rise of “Boutique” Ultrasound

In this paper, I explore the social and cultural implications of the transition of nonmedical 3D ultrasound from a clinical to a social context. The photorealistic quality of 3D ultrasound images displaces sonographers and other medical professionals from their authoritative roles as the translators of fetal images and recasts the ultrasound machine as a technology of communication between women and their fetuses. 3D fetal images, because they are immediately visually accessible, can be transmitted and understood far from the site of their generation, removing women from the transmission of fetal knowledge. The introduction and growth of “boutique” fetal ultrasound, in which women pay for these images, recasts them as consumers of information about their fetuses rather than as the sources of that information.