The baby is literally hanging on for life. For this is one of the most
remarkable photographs taken in medicine and a record of one of the world's
most extraordinary operations.
Here is a story that will shake you, even if you are against abortion. The photo has to be one of the most powerful ever taken, and the implications blow every abortion apologetic out of the water. This story makes murderers of all abortionist advocates, Hillary and Bill, Al (Bloody) Gore, Planned (Massacre) Parenthood, and all the holocaust promoters, deserve the fate they mete out to their victims for promoting the slaughter of the infants. We commend The Irish Independent, USA Today, and Matt Drudge for blowing this world wide.
Take a good look at this picture. It's one of the most remarkable photographs ever taken. The tiny hand of a foetus reaches out from a mother's womb to clasp a surgeon's healing finger. It is, by the way, 21 weeks old, an age at which it could still be legally aborted. The tiny hand in the picture above belongs to a baby which is due to be born on December 28. It was taken during an operation in America recently. Paul Harris reports on a medical development in the control of the effects of spina bifida ... and on a picture which will reverberate through the on-going abortion debate here
Your first instinct is to recoil in horror. It looks like a close-up of some terrible accident. And then you notice, in the center of the photograph, the tiny hand clutching a surgeon's finger.
The baby is literally hanging on for life. For this is one of the most
remarkable photographs taken in medicine and a record of one of the world's
most extraordinary operations.
It shows a 21-week-old foetus in its mother's womb, about to undergo a spine operation designed to save it from serious brain damage. The surgery was carried out entirely through the tiny slit visible in the wall of the womb and the `patient' is believed to be the youngest to undergo it.
At that age the mother could have chosen to have the foetus aborted. Her decision not to, however, led to an astonishing test not just of medical technology, but of faith.
The future Samuel Armas has spina bifida, which left part of his spinal cord exposed after the backbone failed to develop.
The operation was designed to close the gap and protect the cord, the body's motorway for nerve signals to the brain.
So, on an unborn patient no bigger than a guinea-pig, the operation was performed without removing the foetus from the womb.
After learning from tests that the baby had spina bifida, Samuel's mother and father, Mr. And Mrs. Armas, were desperate and asked friends to search for help. Samuel's grandmother found a website giving details of pioneering surgery being carried out by a team at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Although the results have not yet been endorsed in medical journals, they looked encouraging to.
Their doctor put them in touch with Dr. Joseph Bruner (it is his finger in the photograph). A race against time had begun.
Because it affects the spinal cord, spina bifida can lead to a condition that causes brain damage. Mr and Mrs. Armas were told that if they were to avoid the condition, which was not then present in Samuel, they had to act fast.
``I wasn't concerned about a child who couldn't walk,'' said Julie, ``but I want a child who knows me.''
The surgery was terrifying, and the risks were great, but the doctor entered the womb of Mrs. Armas, did the surgery, and said goodbye to little Samuel until December 28.
Samuel has not yet felt the touch of his mother's skin against his own and he knows nothing of life outside her womb. But perhaps Samuel Alexander Armas will be able to shake Dr Bruner's hand again.
The calm before the abortion debate storm
Matt Drudge, who is anti-abortion, was to air the photo, but his associates at Fox News raged on him for it and threatened him. He sacrificed his future with network TV over the thing, and Balaam's Ass Speaks commends Mat Drudge for taking this stand. He will be rewarded one way or another.
Next time you hear about someone wanting to kill their baby, tell them about little Samuel.
