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Malorey Morris
ENG 101
Professor Alicia Bolton
November 10, 2014
Ultrasounds: Good or Bad?
Ultrasounds are sounds or other vibrations having an ultrasonic frequency, particularly used in
medical imaging of a pregnant womens fetus. It is a device that uses high frequency waves to create
images of some parts inside the body. It shows the image on a computer screen as the doctor rubs the
little machine over the womens stomach. The technician or doctor applies some jelly to your abdomen
and then puts the monitor of the ultrasound machine into the jelly, moving it around your belly, states
Stanley and Simpson (Getting Prenatal Care, qtd. Pag.126). Ultrasounds can be used for various things
such as, dating a pregnancy or using it to determine the diagnosis of someones medical condition. They
help doctors with a lot of things that they do, like helping through most of their procedures. They are
mainly used to see what a baby inside of the fetus looks like. Ultrasounds can also detect if something is
wrong inside of your body. Like if you have something painful in your stomach, the doctor can use an
ultrasound to see what it is that is hurting you inside your stomach. Also, if you have a miscarriage an
ultrasound can detect it, and then the doctors can remove the baby before it harms you. It is ironic that
women who have had previous miscarriages often have additional ultrasound examinations in order to
"reassure" them that their baby is developing properly (Ultrasound: Weighing the Propaganda Against
the Facts, Par. 3). Some doctors use ultrasounds to do biopsies and other different procedures.
Ultrasounds can also detect if a baby has a birth defect. It can detect if the baby has a certain defect, like
Down syndrome. Also, if the baby has something wrong with its heart, and ultrasound can detect it.
They also are used to show what week the mother is in. After looking at the baby (to determine its
health), the technician can measure its head to determine the approximate fetal age (which may revise

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your earlier due date) states Stanley and Simpson (Getting Prenatal Care, qtd. Pag. 126). Ultrasounds
have many good benefits to them such as, they are painless, they dont require injection, and they are
safer than most other procedures. They are less expensive than other methods. Virtual videos are not a
real visual of your own baby. They are of a women that is being videoed the whole time that she is
pregnant. There is a 3D imaging video of something, like doctors can use these to show women what
their pregnancy throughout the nine months would look like. It is said to work good, but sometimes
they give false information. Even though these videos are not accurate; women still like to see what
their baby will look like through these nine months. Most women would prefer ultrasounds, just
because they show you the baby inside of you. While virtual videos show only another womens baby,
instead of each individuals unless the women pays a lot of money for it. Some women are not able to
afford the virtual videos so they can only afford the ultrasounds. Although the virtual videos are good,
most women prefer ultrasounds since they cost less, are more accurate, and they detect birth defects.
Some women believe that ultrasounds are a bad thing to use because of their belief in
technology. Dr. Anderson states, My husband and I felt confident in this decision as we made an
informed decision based on the fact that there had been no studies proving that my babies would have
a better chance of survival if we used ultrasound and that there had been no long term studies proving
beyond any doubt that ultrasounds would not cause any damage later in life,(Ultrasound Scans Linked
to Baby Brain Damage: Dr. Christine Anderson, Pediatric-Chiropractor, Never Liked Ultrasound
Technology, par. 2). She is saying that since there is no study that ultrasounds are necessary to be used
to see how old the baby is, then she doesnt need to have one for her baby to be perfectly fine. Some
women believe that ultrasounds are not good because they dont believe in knowing what or how their
baby is before it is born. Cesarean sections are sometimes made due to ultrasounds, but the baby is
extremely tiny once it is born. I trusted in my body's innate wisdom that if the pregnancy was moving
forward, then everything was going OK in my babys development, Dr. Anderson stated, (Ultrasound

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Scans Linked to Baby Brain Damage: Dr. Christine Anderson, Pediatric-Chiropractor, Never Liked
Ultrasound Technology, par. 3). She said this because some abortions come from some errors that
came from an ultrasound. In 1980 a doctor said that ultrasounds were somewhat dangerous and should
not be used on babies under three months of age; but once a certain machine was developed it was
okay to use it only the new babies.
Many women argue that the cost of a virtual video is way too expensive, compared to an
ultrasound. I believe that we should find a way to make these virtual videos cheaper for women that
would want to see the way their baby would look at the stage of their pregnancy. This way more women
have the opportunity to be able to receive this type of procedure. Women that are not able to afford
the virtual videos sometimes get upset when the other women can afford the virtual videos, but they
can only afford the ultrasounds. Ultrasounds are more realistic than virtual videos, therefore they
should be more expensive than the videos. Even though the ultrasounds dont show you in detail the
baby, they still show you the realistic version of the baby so they should be more expensive than a
virtual video. Most women argue about how they are not able to afford the virtual videos, and they say
that they should get some kind of Medicaid to help them pay for some of the costs of the videos.
Ultrasounds are able to detect if the baby has a birth defect, which can help doctors out to help
fix it as soon as the baby is born. These ultrasounds are used to scan the genes of the baby to see if its
genes have any defects in it. Human Genetics states that, The gene flaws can cause anything from
minor defects such as a club foot to more serious ones such as mental retardation, heart problems and
fatal diseases (More Revealing Results with Gene Testing, par. 1). Since doctors are able to see this
ahead of time, they already will know what they are dealing with before the baby arrives. Doctors like
the way that this is set up so it can help them prepare for when the baby comes. Also, it helps the mom
prepare herself for when the baby comes. Some women only want the ultrasound, instead of the virtual
videos. Dr. Susan Klugman states that, The prenatal study of 4,400 women has long been awaited in the

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field, and could make gene testing a standard of care in cases where initial screening with an ultrasound
exam suggests a structural defect in how the baby is developing (More Revealing Results with Gene
Testing, par.5). These exams are very helpful to the doctors, parents, and the baby since it can help see
what the defect is early enough to treat it. The black-and white swirls of 2D ultrasound have become
instantly recognizable as an image of a foetus but do not give the same indexical representation possible
with 3D (Roberts, pag. 4)
Most women would rather get an ultrasound, due to them being more accurate than a virtual
video. Since an ultrasound is used to see all the genes of a baby, they can also detect if a baby is a boy or
a girl. They also can allow the parents to hear their babys heartbeat. Most doctors recommend an
ultrasound since they are more accurate. It helps the parents see their baby, and there are certain
ultrasounds that make it where you can see a 3D image of the baby. Most women prefer an ultrasound
because of how much more accurate it is. A virtual video is just a random person being videoed. A good
thing about the ultrasound is that they can help the parents get an idea and see how their baby looks
before they have it.
In conclusion, many women can argue that the cost of virtual videos are too high. Also, since the
cost of the virtual videos were too high, most women had to get ultrasounds. The ultrasounds are more
accurate since the image is the actual fetus inside the pregnant womans stomach. Virtual videos use 3D
images to show how the fetus looks in all the different stages of the pregnancy. Women prefer an
ultrasound because they can get more out of it, then they could a virtual video. This is because the
ultrasounds are real, they dont cost that much, and they are good to detect birth defects. Ultrasounds
are mainly used by doctors to see when the baby is due, what the gender is, and see how big the baby is
getting. Virtual videos cost more than ultrasounds, which make women buy the ultrasound because
they are cheaper. Ultrasounds have been used way more than virtual videos have been.

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Work Cited
Marchione, Marilynn. "Prenatal Genetic Testing Helps Pregnant Women Detect Birth Defects." Human
Genetics. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2014. Opposing
Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Study Could Spur Wider Use of Prenatal Gene Tests." Seattle Times 5
Dec. 2012. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Anderson, Christine. "Ultrasound Scans Linked to Baby Brain Damage: Dr. Christine Anderson, PediatricChiropractor, Never Liked Ultrasound Technology." Expert Click. Brad Butler, 29 July 2011. Web.
17 Nov. 2014.
Roberts, Julie. Theory, Technology and Society : Visualised Foetus : A Cultural and Political Analysis of
Ultrasound Imagery. Abingdon, Oxon, GBR: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web.
17 November 2014.
Beech, Beverly L. "Ultrasound: Weighing the Propaganda Against the Factsby Beverley Lawrence Beech."
Ultrasound: Weighing the Propaganda Against the Facts. N.p., Autumn 1999. Web. 17 Nov.
2014.
Stanley, Cleo, and Carolyn Simpson. "Chapter 9/Getting Prenatal Care." I'm Pregnant, Now What? 1st
ed. New York: Rosen Pub., 2012. 124-26. Print