Fetus Parties: Preventative Care versus Celebratory Entertainment

With the new and advanced 4-D Ultrasound Technology, parents in the UK have started a 'fetus party' trend, inviting friends and family to view a fetus before the birth during an ultrasound, where diagnostic scans are turning into a form of entertainment. 

Along with baby showers, welcome home celebrations, circumcisions, baptism and other newborn baby events, you can add fetus party to the list. A fetus party is just that - parents-to-be will invite friends and relatives into the ultrasound room to view the baby before the birth. 

The Commercialization of Pregnancy has hit a new level. We have come from an age where my grandfathers weren't in the delivery room with my grandmothers as they gave birth to my parents and aunts and uncles. Now, husbands and significant others can actually help deliver the baby and cut the umbilical cord. Technology has changed drastically, too. Before the 1980's, ultrasounds were unheard of, and until the mid-1990's, parents had to guess the gender as their baby came into the world. Then, as technology advanced, it became commonplace for parents to find out their gender of their baby and announce it to the world before the birth. 

The Problem with Fetus Parties
The original creation of the ultrasound was used to detect birth defects and other problems, but as the ages progress, women now have a larger expectation about pregnancy and birth. Although you can see facial features and fine details of a baby inside the womb with the new 4-D ultrasounds, complications are never out of the question. Although the risks miscarriages and birth defects are often reduced after the first trimester, other problems can arrive later in pregnancy and during childbirth. 

A midwife in the United Kingdom is discouraging the practice. Dr. Cathy Warwick says the earlier the 'fetus party' is celebrated, the more risks there are in complications. If a fetus party is celebrated too soon, a mother may have an even harder time getting over the emotional toll than if they hadn't shared the moment with everyone else.

Something about this 'fetus party' reminds me of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Let's just replace windows on a mother's baby so we can see the growth and development with our own eyes.

But what about fetal rights....?