Photo studio in utero
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...because doctors usually don’t have the time or the space to make this a part of their practice, she said.

But not everyone is happy about this trend. Regulatory agencies and much of the medical community have raised questions and criticisms about the use of ultrasound for entertainment purposes.

“I think that ultrasound is a medical test and it has always been a medical test. It really doesn’t belong in the hands of non-medical personnel,” said Dr. Beryl Benacerraf, Clinical Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, Radiology, and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School. “It is like construction workers that use heavy equipment. I don’t think that should be in the wrong hands either.”

Dr. Benacerraf also wonders what happens if fetal abnormalities are missed during an ultrasound session at a private business. “One reason we use [ultrasound] is to determine the health of the baby,” she said. “What if the baby was abnormal and that wasn’t recognized? Before we start introducing the baby to the parents we check for abnormalities.”

During an ultrasound procedure, sound waves from a transducer placed on the mother’s abdomen are emitted and reflected off the fetus to create an image on the monitor screen. This technology has been in use for about the last 50 years and has a good safety record. Harmful effects in human cells have not been shown by the bulk of published scientific studies.

Dr. David Jones, director of the Fetal Diagnostic Center at the University of Vermont College of Medicine said he would not hesitate to give a patient a 3D photo or a couple of minutes of video time to see their fetus at the end of a diagnostic medical exam, a generally well-accepted practice. But he said he would not give his consent if one of his patients asked about having a non-diagnostic ultrasound performed at a private company, partly because keepsake sessions can last twice as long as a typical 30-minute diagnostic ultrasound session. “It is hard to state definitively just where the line should be drawn,” he said.

The Food and Drug Administration and some state agencies are trying to do just that. The FDA opposes the practice of exposing fetuses to ultrasound waves for non-medical purposes. Tests...