Vanderbilt lauded in study for pioneering fetal surgery for spina bifida....

 This story caught my eye as a pro life blogger. I have had the privilege many times of hearing Michael Clancy tell the amazing story behind this photo and the lengths the pro abortion crowd went to trying to discredit what you are seeing with your own eyes. This routine assignment changed his heart and mind on the issue of abortion. Unfortunately it ended his career as a photo journalist as the pro abortion personnel connected with Vanderbilt sought to discredit him and this picture. For full story go to Michael Clancy.com.
So this story in the paper today only touches on the controversy but while the story applauds Vanderbilt in the tenacity of pioneering fetal surgery to correct or at least limit defects from spina bifida there is a pro life message as well.  From the mother who underwent  this surgery, her pro life "shout out" over rides the theme of kudos to Vanderbilt.  Not to belittle the scientific credit to Vandy but the pro life message even comes out even when  not intended. Watch the video at the end and hear the docs refer to the "fetus" as the baby and refer to the heartbeat still being strong.

"Vindication has come for the doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who pioneered fetal surgery for spina bifida and the Mt. Juliet mother who was brave enough to be the first to undergo the procedure.

But it was a photograph that caused a public controversy. Michael Clancy, a freelance photographer on assignment for USA TODAY, was photographing surgery on a 21-month-old fetus in 1999 when the baby's arm emerged from the womb. The shot was a powerful image — one that abortion opponents embraced.

Questions about abortion have been a background issue from the beginning.
"Our first decision was, 'Are we going to keep this child?' — which really wasn't a decision in my mind," Meyer said. "There was no choice. I was going to keep him."
Some women do choose to have abortions when they learn the fetus they carry has been diagnosed with a birth defect.

Kristie Terrell, who underwent prenatal surgery seven years ago so her son, Evan, would have a better chance at life, hopes the news about the study will persuade fewer women to choose abortions when they receive the spina bifida diagnosis.
I hope that maybe this story will give hope to another mom that may be facing this type of issue," Kristie Terrell said. "They will know that baby will bring such joy and such fun to any family that they will consider only the prospect of a future with that baby."