JEDDAH: The president of the Saudi Society for Women’s Medicine issued warnings against the use of ultrasound imaging to view the fetus.
He said improper use could lead to negative results that affect the unborn baby and the mother.
Dr. Hassan Abduljabbar said that the use of ultrasound in the initial stages of pregnancy might lead to mothers aborting their unborn. He said there are many cases of this happening. He said the number of Saudi women who have Caesarean sections rather than natural birth is continually increasing, now at 30 percent. He said this goes back to the fact that these women are afraid to have natural births, believing it may distort the body of the fetus.
He said more and more women support Caesarean sections over natural birth although the former is made through surgery and a surgical incision.
On another level he said despite decaying Arab traditions against female births in Saudi society, he accuses sonograms as a reason that threatens females inside the womb because fathers don’t like it when they see its a baby girl inside the womb in the early stages of pregnancy and may seek to end the pregnancy.
Abduljabbar said that sonar (originally an acronym for "sound navigation and ranging") was used previously in the depths of the seas to use sound waves which were transferred into images through modern technology. Use of sonar developed into a method to examine the fetus inside the womb. He warned against its use more than once. “It should be used two times only because it may create distortions related to the heart, breathing, movement, level of liquid inside the womb among others.” He added doctors should not keep using as it “as if its the hearing aid to the obstetrician.”
He said ultrasound imaging maybe used to determine whether the fetus is male or female but sometimes this is the case and there have been many cases when after delivery the baby turns out to be of the opposite sex. He spoke of one man who rejected the baby because the sonogram said it was a male when in fact it turned out to be a female; he had five girls already. He said he only accepted the child after much persuasion.
In another case Abduljabbar said a man was angry because the ultrasound showed it was a female and he never once went with his wife during check ups in the months she was pregnant.
