The image of the hand of a 21 week-old unborn baby reaching out of the womb and holding the surgeon’s finger .
Michael Clancy, Photojournalist captured a famous and controversial picture during spina bifida surgery on Samuel Armas an unborn child.
The incredible picture shows Samual reaching out of the womb, ( a miraculous glimpse of life in a mother’s womb), grasping the surgeon’s finger. This image enraged the abortion industry, caused a media scandal, encouraged the pro-life community and ended Clancy’s career as a photojournalist. Clancy’s story was featured in the movie, “The Gift of Life,” and in the book, “Hand of Hope The Story Behind The Picture”
The picture was taken on August 19, 1999, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville Tn., during an incredible procedure to correct spina bifida on an unborn child. Julie Armas was twenty one weeks pregnant with little Samuel at the time of the procedure. Photographer Michael Clancy captured a remarkable image: The hand of a 21 week-old prenatal baby holding a surgeon’s finger. Clancy thought the photo might win a Pulitzer Prize. Instead, the picture has generated a lot more controversy than awards.
Clancy wanted the picture to be seen by as many people as possible because it provided a miraculous glimpse of life in a mother’s womb. Prior to the photo shoot, Clancy considered a fetus to be purely a part of a women’s body, and felt that if she wanted an abortion, it was nobody’s business but her own. Clancy states that what he saw that day in the operating room changed his opinion immediately.