A comparative study of proteinuric pre-eclampsia and normal pregnancy has been carried out to assess changes in the haemostatic mechanism in maternal and umbilical vein blood at birth. The results demonstrated changes in pre-eclampsia compatible with hypercoagulability with, in particular, depressed fibrinolysis. No strong pattern of differences from normal pregnancy or pre-eclampsia emerged when growth retarded infants were studied as a separate group.