The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram and the Work of the Sonographer

Abstract

Fetal sonograms have been taken up outside the clinical setting in U.S. popular culture and media, in ways that may impinge upon, and that have also emerged out of, the work of the sonographer. As members of an emerging technical profession composed primarily of women, sonographers have worked hard to develop and promote ultrasound and have debated whether their professional identity ought to rest exclusively on their technical “skill” or also on their (feminine) capacity for “caring.” Over time, the obstetrical exam has come to incorporate rituals of showing and telling and giving out pictures, that have allowed sonographers both to “sell” ultrasound and to respond to their pregnant patients in a caring manner. Ironically, however, these same elements have also set the stage for antiabortion advocates to use fetal sonograms in ways quite harmful to the interests not only of women but also of the sonographers who seek to treat them with both skill and care.

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