Take a good look at the stunning photograph reproduced below. It was taken in the operating room during delicate surgery on the spine of a baby boy who was still in his mother’s uterus. His name is Samuel Alexander Armas. I hope you will never forget his story.
Click on photo for enlarged image
Samuel Alexander Armas
Age 21 weeks old – in-uterine
Photo credit: Michael Clancy
"Samuel’s Story"
"What you are viewing should be designated ‘Picture of the century!’ It won’t be. Most people will never get an opportunity to see it.
The photo depicts a 21-week-old pre-born baby, who was being operated on by a surgeon named Joseph Bruner (It is his finger in the photo). The baby had been diagnosed with spina bifida, which leaves the spinal cord exposed after it fails to develop properly. Unless the gap was closed to protect his nervous system, serious brain damage would likely have occurred before birth. There was no time to lose. Unfortunately, the baby was too immature to survive outside the womb, and corrective surgery had never been performed on a baby this young. However, the parents, Julie and Alex Armas, have a deep faith. She is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta, who had heard through the Internet of Dr. Bruner’s work at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. He and his team pioneered these delicate operations. Despite the fact that the procedure has not yet been endorsed in medical journals, the decision was made to attempt it on behalf of little Samuel.
To operate on such a tiny baby required special miniature instruments to be created. The sutures used, for example, were less than the thickness of a human hair. A Caesarean section was then performed to lift the uterus gently from Julie’s body, permitting the surgeon to make a small incision through which the operation would be performed. Then, it happened! As Dr. Bruner was probing the opening, the baby’s fully-developed hand wrapped itself around the finger of the surgeon. The photograph captures that amazing moment with perfect clarity.
This picture should be shown on every newscast and run in every newspaper in America. Every teenager should also see it. Why? Because it is an unmistakable reminder that growing in the womb of each mother is a baby. It is not a ‘blob of tissue,’ or a ‘product of conception.’ A pre-born baby is fully human from the moment of conception. What we see in the photograph expresses that understanding better than a thousand words.
Little Samuel’s mother was quoted as saying she and her husband ‘wept for days’ when they saw the picture. She said, ‘This photo reminds us [that] my pregnancy wasn’t about disability or illness. It was about a little person.’
That’s what human pregnancy and birth are about — a tiny human being with an eternal soul being formed in the ‘image of God.’ And that’s what the media elite fails to comprehend. That’s also why they don’t want people to see the incredible picture of this precious baby grasping the hand of his physician. I pray that it will not be hidden forever."
Many people have wondered what happened to Samuel. Happily, both Samuel and his mother are doing well. Below is theletter that Samuel's mother sent out after his birth:Update
Samuel arrived on Thursday, Dec. 2, at 6:25 p.m. at Northside Hospital, weighing 5 lbs, 11 ounces and [measuring] 20 1/2 inches long. He was born at 36 weeks but came into the world screaming his head off! He did not have to spend any time in a neonatal unit and came home with us on Monday, Dec. 6. After viewing an ultrasound of his brain, Samuel’s neurosurgeon was very optimistic, as he does not have any hydrocephalus [excess fluid on the brain] and the brain malformation has resolved. He is moving his legs very well from the hips and some from the knees. He was frank breech (folded in half) in the womb, and the orthopedist feels that he has a good chance for walking. He will begin physical therapy next week in order to work out some of the stiffness in his legs that was a result of his being folded in half in the womb. He is also nursing very well.Thank you for all your prayers and support. We are happier than we ever dreamed possible!
All our love,
Julie, Alex and Samuel Armas"
Newborn Baby Samuel
Click on photo for enlarged image
The top photograph alone, if witnessed by people around the world, would force millions to rethink the real meaning of abortion. Seeing that little hand illustrates for us the fact that abortionists are, indeed, killing babies — often by the most grotesque methods — with the full protection and sanction of our government. Shame on us, and shame on our leaders! If his parents had wished, little Samuel could have been dismembered legally without anesthetics by the procedure known as "partial birth abortion." Indeed, his body parts — including the delicate hand — could have been sold to the highest bidder on the open market. If the United States Supreme Court rules against babies in the Steinberg v. Carhart case next summer, every legal effort to protect them will be struck down. Please be in prayer about that historic decision!
