The above photo shows a 21-week-old baby reacting to the touch of a surgeon by squeezing the doctor's finger. The remarkable picture was taken in 1999 by free-lance photographer Michael Clancy, who was filming a fetal surgery procedure for USA Today.
Dr. Joseph Bruner, along his surgical team at Vanderbilt University, performed the procedure on unborn baby Samuel Armas to close a lesion -- or opening -- caused by spina bifida and hydrocephalus.
As Clancy was filming, he said, ``Out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one's hand was near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor's finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm.''
Samuel was born 15 weeks after the surgery.
Bruner told USA Today in May 2000 that the photo didn't show purposeful movement by Samuel. Bruner claimed he saw the hand near the incision and he ``reached over and picked it up. The baby did not reach out. The baby was anesthetized. The baby was not aware of what was going on.''
But Clancy posted on his web site (www.michaelclancy.com) a series of frames that depict the moment of contact between Samuel and Bruner. They show Samuel is moving his own hand, grasping the doctor.
``The doctor questioned my credibility,'' Clancy recently told National Right to Life News. ``But Samuel punched out, and even damaged the surgical opening. That 21-week-old child reacted to the touch of his surgeon.''
Clancy went on to testify at a congressional hearing in 2003 along with then-three-year-old Samuel.
Clancy continues to speak out about what he saw and what his picture revealed.
``It changes one heart at a time, that's what this picture does,'' Clancy said.

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