ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the impact of medical technology on pregnancy, especially the "mirage of certainty" that technologies such as ultrasound and prenatal testing seem to offer. It also examines the intellectual preparation that is de rigeur for pregnancy and on the Internet. The chapter discusses the commodification of pregnancy through which babies are not only transformed into "products" of their mothers' labor, but are expected to be "perfect" products. It draws on the lay literature about pregnancy. Medical verification and supervision of pregnancy have become central to the modern experience of pregnancy. Total sales of home pregnancy tests, which typically cost less than $15, top $200 million annually; one in three pregnant women has used a test at home to verify a pregnancy before heading to the doctor. Pregnancy as a master status makes women essentially reproductive rather than social beings. It emphasizes women's biological identities over their social ones.
