Pro-life forces are lining up to fight for Eluana.
Thread by me.
ROME, November 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) With a verdict expected this week by the Italian high court in the case of Eluana Englaro - who some are calling the "Italian Terri Schiavo" - pro-life Italians from up and down the peninsula held a torchlight rally in front of the Palazzo di Giustizia (Palace of Justice) in Rome on Saturday night.
The Catholic action group, Militia Christi, organised the rally to show support for Eluana. Demonstrators held torches, flags and banners, attracting attention of passing traffic and tourists on the historic Ponte Umberto, which spans the Tiber directly in front of the Palazzo.
Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, the director of the Rome office of Human Life International told LifeSiteNews.com, We are here to defend the life of Eluana Englaro.
Now we are arriving to the end of the judicial road, he said. No more appeals. Its a very serious problem because the highest tribunal could decide that feeding and hydration could be disconnected from Eluana. And it could constitute a precedent to other cases.
Eluana Englaro, 36, was severely injured in a 1992 car accident that left her in a state of minimal consciousness. However, she can breathe on her own and is not on a ventilator. Her life support has consisted of assisted feeding and hydration. Her father, Beppino Englaro, has been petitioning courts to remove his daughter's assisted nutrition and hydration since 1999.
In July, a lower court ruled that doctors could remove Eluanas food and hydration tube. The state appealed the decision, saying that the ruling against Eluana constituted an attempt to change existing law. While this argument was rejected, a ruling on the governments appeal from the Supreme Court of Cassation is expected tomorrow.
Eluanas father Beppino Englaro has stated that, although he is legally entitled to remove his daughters food and hydration, he is not willing to proceed until all appeals are concluded.
Although media reports say that she is in a persistent vegetative state or a deep coma, her supporters report that Eluana has moments of minimal consciousness. Despite this, the previous court ruled that it had been shown both that her coma is irreversible and that she has expressed her desire not to live if she were in a "persistent vegetative state." The Court of Appeal said the decision was "inevitable given the extraordinary duration of a state of permanent vegetation," and given that her "vision of life was irreconcilable with the total and irreversible loss of her mental faculties."
The decision will not only affect Eluanas life, Msgr. Barreiro said, but is a crucial one in the fight against legalised euthanasia.
The decision will set a precedent for many other similar cases that are ready to be argued; it could also have a strong bearing on a proposed bill on living wills which could establish the right to remove the food and hydration of patients.
Thats passive euthanasia, Msgr. Barreiro said. It is a form of assisted suicide; and there is a risk of that in this law. Thats why we are afraid that this law will serve as a Trojan horse to introduce in a limited way, passive euthanasia.
Its a crucial decision because it could open the door to euthanasia in Italy.
About Eluana, Msgr. Barreiro said, She is not in a deep coma, because she opens her eyes. But at the same time, that is irrelevant. We have to insist that it is irrelevant whether she is in a deep coma or gives some signs of being able to relate. Because any human being has a right to food, water and bed rest independent of his or her condition.
If the court upholds the fathers request, that would be a very negative antecedent, Msgr. Barreiro added.
"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest."
Thread by tcg.
So, with the stroke of a pen human embryos would become property, capable of being manufactured like a commodity, and available to be used as spare parts in experimentation which has produced no discernible scientific results. It is all even more troubling because adult stem cell research and fetal chord blood research have actually shown significant promise but have received little or no attention or research support. Most importantly, the use of these stem cells is never deadly. Every so called extraction of embryonic stem cells kills a living human embryo. I write as a Catholic Christian who warned of the implications of the new administrations pledge to Planned Parenthood to pass the evil Freedom of Choice Act which would enshrine the results of the Roe and Doe opinions into Federal law and remove every limiting restriction on abortion on demand. Now, this news from inside the transition team of the President elect indicates that the grave dangers to human life may begin even before the new President has a chance to make good on that promise...