{"id":205250,"date":"2019-06-24T15:49:59","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T20:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=205250"},"modified":"2019-06-25T11:05:29","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T16:05:29","slug":"russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic ‘Precious Feet’, has passed away"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Oregon Right to Life<\/a>)\u00a0After a fight with cancer, the pro-life movement lost one of its unsung heroes, Dr. Russell Sacco, this June. A father of four and grandfather to eight, he is also survived by Elizabeth, his loving wife of 58 years.<\/p>\n

Dr. Sacco, a urologist who practiced in Oregon and one of the founding members of Oregon Right to Life, might not be familiar to you but his impact on the pro-life movement cannot be quantified.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Dr. Sacco and ORTL Education Foundation Board President Joan Sage<\/p><\/div>\n

Oregon first legalized abortion in 1969 under Senate Bill 193. It was only a matter of time before the issue made it to the Supreme Court of the United States.<\/p>\n

A long-time Catholic, Dr. Sacco was convinced in his pro-life beliefs but also was concerned about the lack of education he experienced in medical school about fetal development. He started researching the issue whenever he could, having discussions with colleagues along the way.<\/p>\n

One afternoon in 1970, at a Portland hospital, he was visiting with a fellow pro-life Oregonian, a pathologist. The pathologist was responsible for destroying the bodies of babies following abortions. He didn\u2019t feel able to do this and had placed some of the bodies into formaldehyde. That day, he showed the remains to Dr. Sacco.<\/p>\n

Dr. Sacco was shocked at first but realized this was an opportunity to redeem the short lives of those little humans. He consulted textbooks, determining the age of the babies, then photographed them.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Dr. Sacco\u2019s photo holding the 10-week old baby\u2019s feet<\/p><\/div>\n

Struggling to show the scale of the babies\u2019 size in comparison to their development, he took one 10-week old baby in his hands, holding its feet between his forefinger and thumb.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden, I saw these tiny feet; these perfectly formed tiny feet, with little toes, little wrinkles and creases and I held them between my fingers and took the picture. I was crying because I felt so bad \u2013 it just really got to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI really didn\u2019t think the photo would be anything, but God must have taken the picture because it was perfect, and I knew that this would be one powerful way to send a message to the world, as this unborn baby was only about 10 weeks along.\u201d<\/p>\n

The babies\u2019 bodies remained with the pathologist but Dr. Sacco took their photos with him and shared them with many, spreading the humanity of other such tiny lives. One of the people he shared them with helped the photograph become famous.<\/p>\n

Described by some as the father of the pro-life movement, Dr. John Willke founded Cincinnati Right to Life in 1970 and Life Issues Institute in 1991. In 1971, he was giving a talk to the California Pro-Life Council. Dr. Sacco was in attendance. Afterwards, he showed his pictures to Dr. Willke.<\/p>\n

Dr. Willke also recognized that these images were incredible tools to help advocate for the lives of the unborn. He printed them in his book, \u201cHandbook on Abortion,” and in brochures and pamphlets.
\nOther pro-lifers followed suit, using the images. On January 22, 1974, Ellis and Virginia Evers opened their local newspaper, The San Diego Union<\/i>, to see a full-page ad featuring the photo of the tiny feet. Inspired, Virginia carefully modeled the iconic \u201cPrecious Feet\u201d pins.<\/p>\n

When Dr. Sacco saw the pin, he was impressed by the accuracy of the design.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0How one photo of a preborn baby helped to make future generations pro-life<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThey did it perfectly and designed it to match the size of the tiny feet I held, and was made of metal,\u201d he said. \u201cI was so surprised that this happened and very pleased. I am told that these pins and this picture have helped save lives and that makes me happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Precious Feet design was elected the International Pro-Life Symbol at a symposium in Ireland in 1979. To date, more than 20 million Precious Feet pins have been distributed worldwide.<\/p>\n

Dr. Sacco always was convinced that if people knew what the unborn looked like, they would reconsider their position on abortion. He took those photos hoping to counterbalance the narrative that they were nothing more than \u201cblobs of protoplasm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe so much to Dr. Sacco,\u201d says Lois Anderson, ORTL executive director. \u201cHe was a faithful, humble advocate for the vulnerable and will be deeply missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the help of Dr. Willke and the Evers [family], he did counterbalance the narrative. Countless babies have been saved, many we know about and many more we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Requiescat in peace, Dr. Sacco. We will carry on your work.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was published at Oregon Right to Life<\/a> and is\u00a0reprinted here with permission. Read more about Dr. Sacco, the Willkes and the Evers family in <\/i>this Live Action News article<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Oregon Right to Life)\u00a0After a fight with cancer, the pro-life movement lost one of its unsung heroes, Dr. Russell Sacco, this June. A father of four and grandfather to eight, he is also survived by Elizabeth, his loving wife of 58 years. Dr. Sacco, a urologist who practiced in Oregon and one of the founding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":643,"featured_media":205254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,9455],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic 'Precious Feet', has passed away<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr. Sacco passed away in June of 2019. He took photos of the preborn hoping to counterbalance the claim that they were just \u201cblobs of protoplasm.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic 'Precious Feet', has passed away\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Sacco passed away in June of 2019. He took photos of the preborn hoping to counterbalance the claim that they were just \u201cblobs of protoplasm.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-24T20:49:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-25T16:05:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Dr.-Sacco-holds-aborted-baby-feet.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"653\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liberty Pike\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liberty Pike\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Liberty Pike\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/5ae616275b07b10e3dc508e73712c59b\"},\"headline\":\"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic ‘Precious Feet’, has passed away\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-24T20:49:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-25T16:05:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/\"},\"wordCount\":834,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Guest Column\",\"Human Interest\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/\",\"name\":\"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic 'Precious Feet', has passed away\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-24T20:49:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-25T16:05:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"Dr. Sacco passed away in June of 2019. He took photos of the preborn hoping to counterbalance the claim that they were just \u201cblobs of protoplasm.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic ‘Precious Feet’, has passed away\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/5ae616275b07b10e3dc508e73712c59b\",\"name\":\"Liberty Pike\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/efe42756938e7d5bd7d28278f40246e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/efe42756938e7d5bd7d28278f40246e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Liberty Pike\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/liberty-pike\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic 'Precious Feet', has passed away","description":"Dr. Sacco passed away in June of 2019. He took photos of the preborn hoping to counterbalance the claim that they were just \u201cblobs of protoplasm.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic 'Precious Feet', has passed away","og_description":"Dr. Sacco passed away in June of 2019. He took photos of the preborn hoping to counterbalance the claim that they were just \u201cblobs of protoplasm.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2019-06-24T20:49:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-06-25T16:05:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":653,"height":425,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Dr.-Sacco-holds-aborted-baby-feet.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Liberty Pike","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Liberty Pike","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/"},"author":{"name":"Liberty Pike","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/5ae616275b07b10e3dc508e73712c59b"},"headline":"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic ‘Precious Feet’, has passed away","datePublished":"2019-06-24T20:49:59+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-25T16:05:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/"},"wordCount":834,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Guest Column","Human Interest"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/","name":"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic 'Precious Feet', has passed away","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-06-24T20:49:59+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-25T16:05:29+00:00","description":"Dr. Sacco passed away in June of 2019. He took photos of the preborn hoping to counterbalance the claim that they were just \u201cblobs of protoplasm.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/russell-sacco-photographer-precious-feet-passed-away\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dr. Russell Sacco, photographer of iconic ‘Precious Feet’, has passed away"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/5ae616275b07b10e3dc508e73712c59b","name":"Liberty Pike","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/efe42756938e7d5bd7d28278f40246e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/efe42756938e7d5bd7d28278f40246e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Liberty Pike"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/liberty-pike\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205250"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205420,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205250\/revisions\/205420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}