Here We Go Again with 3D Printed Fetuses

A start-up company called 3D Babies wants to give future parents the ability to hold their baby even before he or she is born. This, by offering 3D printed replicas of the unborn fetus – directly from the 3D sonogram data. Prices for this privilege range from $200 to $600 (for the full 8 inch size model), with three skin tone options. As debatable as it may be (the project reached less than 10% of its target funding of 15,000 on Indigoogo), they are not the only company aiming to offer such a service: it all began, as usual for this type of hyper-technological novelty, in Japan, and subsequently moved to Brazil.

I do not have children so I am probably the least appropriate person to comment on a parent’s desire to hold their baby in their hands, even before he or she actually makes his or her way into the world. However, as much as I can appreciate the idea of 3D printing a fetus for scientific and medical purposes, I do not understand the concept of consumer fetal 3D printing.

Many future parents talk about the first time they saw their baby, in the ultrasound scan, as a magic moment. I can totally understand that too. They are peeping into something that is going to be up there among, if not topping, their greatest achievements. However we, as a society, have already been moving from still ultrasound images to 3D scans and 4D imaging of the 3D baby model moving.

This time, in my opinion, 3D printing seems to represent a step backwards, back to the baby being still. And a still baby is not a pleasant sight. [Ed: not pleasant? Or downright creepy?]

As mentioned, there are likely medical circumstances that demand the use of this application — doctors who need to examine the fetus for possible growth issues and/or deformities. However, the motivation here is wholly about the baby’s well being and it is unlikely to be a fun or rewarding experience.

Then again, who am I to judge: posting photos of newborns on social networks is a common trend, even among – or especially among – celebrities. Just think about how many times you saw the future king of England even before he turned two days old.

3D Babies, in a move that highlights the company’s motivation, also would like to ride the celebrity baby trend, by offering, along with your own 3D printed fetus, the possibility to buy a 3D print of baby North West, the offspring of TV star Kim Kardashian and hip hop artist Kayne West.

3D printing fetuses (and celebrity babies) might be just the next step in socializing the pregnancy and delivery experience: whether it should be socialized and how much is for each one of us to judge for ourselves.