Focus on Hand of Hope and discuss the Controversy.
The picture attracted a lot of attention when it was released, as it was used by opponents of abortion who asserted that the baby reached through the womb and grabbed the doctor's hand, thus showing signs of life at the 21st week of pregnancy. Indeed, the photograph and many of the texts which often accompany it seem to support this view, including the account of the photographer Michael Clancy:As a doctor asked me what speed of film I was using, out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one's hands were 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. I took the picture! Wow!
It happened so fast that the nurse standing next to me asked, "What happened?"
"The child reached out," I said."Oh. They do that all the time," she responded.
However, the surgeon later stated that Samuel and his mother Julie were under anesthesia and could not move.
"The baby did not reach out," Dr Bruner said. "The baby was anesthetized. The baby was not aware of what was going on."The surgeon who operated on the mother stated that rather than the fetus' hand clutching on to his finger, he was simply pushing the fetus' arm that had suddenly jolted out of the womb back into the womb in order to finish the surgery.
abortion uterus Michael Clancy fetus