Abstract
Though only recently proposed as a subspecialty [1], primary care fetal medicine began in the late 1950s with the development of techniques for the evaluation and subsequently the treatment of fetal hemolytic anemia.[2–4] With several exceptions, further developments in fetal medicine were limited to the diagnosis of abnormalities and the characterization of their natural histories until the early 1980s. These obligatory first steps continue today, since it is impossible to treat without an accurate diagnosis and unwise to treat without knowledge of the likely outcome. Though the subspeciality is still in its early development, the fetus is no longer hidden and unapproachable. The emergence of the fetus as a patient generates the potential for conflict between the autonomous woman and her dependent fetus.