Snapshots From the Womb

By Unmesh Kher

Everybody knows that babies are good for business, but few know it quite as well as Tracie Pierce. She's director of operations at Fetal Fotos, a chain of studios headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that sells to expectant mothers ultrasound portraits of their babies while they are still in the womb. The chain is the largest of perhaps two dozen similar businesses cropping up at strip malls and on street-corners around the country. They owe their popularity to improvements in the software used to create ultrasound images. Mothers willing to give $150 and 30 minutes of their time to Fetal Fotos walk away with a framed, 3-D snapshot of their unborn babies so clear that facial features--and often gender--are discernible. Most outlets also offer video footage of the fetus set to music. "They can see a little footprint," says Pierce, "or their baby kicking--things the physician just didn't have time to show them. It provides them with an additional bonding experience."

Not everybody's sighing. Dr. Lawrence Platt, an obstetrician in Los Angeles and former president of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, finds the practice appalling. The ultrasound machine, which builds images by bouncing sound waves off the baby, is not known to be hazardous, but its sale or promotion is approved by the FDA only for medical purposes. It may turn out that there are ill effects associated with the procedure that haven't yet been discovered. "Using it for entertainment is an abuse of the technology," says Platt. Besides, he says, he's happy to give patients footage of their babies when they ask. And if an ultrasound is deemed appropriate, insurance will usually cover it. --By Unmesh Kher