‘Stop dehydration deaths,’ says Terri Schiavo’s brother in response to new brain scan

St. Petersburg, Fla., Feb 4, 2010 / 08:32 pm (CNA).- Reacting to news of a breakthrough in brain scanning technology, Terri Schiavo's brother Bobby Schindler is calling for a halt to removing hydration from brain-damaged patients who are thought to be in a persistent vegetative state. An “unscientific, inaccurate” diagnosis of unresponsive patients is being used as “a criterion to kill,” Schindler charged.

Schindler was responding to news that researchers from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the University of Liège have used a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map a patient’s brain activity while he was asked to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions.

One patient, a 29-year-old man who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a traffic accident, was able to communicate by willfully changing his brain activity, a press release from the MRC reports. He correctly answered questions such as “Is your father’s name Alexander?”

Dr. Adrian Owen and his team at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, England were the developers of the technique.

“We were astonished when we saw the results of the patient’s scan and that he was able to correctly answer the questions that were asked by simply changing his thoughts,” Dr. Owen commented. “Not only did these scans tell us that the patient was not in a vegetative state but, more importantly, for the first time in five years, it provided the patient with a way of communicating his thoughts to the outside world.”

Dr. Steven Laureys of the University of Liège, a co-author of the study, said the scans were the only viable method for the patient to communicate since his accident.

“It’s early days, but in the future we hope to develop this technique to allow some patients to express their feelings and thoughts, control their environment and increase their quality of life.”

The three-year study conducted fMRI scans on 23 patients diagnosed as being in a vegetative state. The technology detected signs of awareness in four of the cases, 17 percent of the participants.

The fMRI technique can decipher the brain’s answers to questions in healthy participants with 100 percent accuracy but has previously not been used for a patient who cannot move or speak.

Dr. Martin Monti, another MRC co-author of the study, said the advance could help with clinical questions and would allow patients to say if they are feeling any pain.

Dr. Allan Ropper, a neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, wrote an editorial accompanying the study. According to HealthDay News, he said that people are going to have to “grapple” with the meaning of brain scans that show consciousness or residual consciousness.

“It has to do with what you think life is and what is a meaningful life. Those are social, cultural and theological questions,” he said.

He also cautioned against giving false hope to families, noting the small percentage of the responsive patients. All the study’s patients had suffered traumatic brain injuries, not damage from oxygen deprivation.

Speaking of the 29-year-old patient, Monti said “it is still the case that we managed to give him, to a little extent, a voice. In a sense there was a very positive outcome. We managed to interact. This is an extremely exciting thing."

CNA sought comment on the issue from Bobby Schindler of the Terri Schiavo Foundation.

His sister Terri, who was severely brain damaged from oxygen deprivation, was at the center of a 2005 legal dispute in Florida. She was denied nutrition and hydration by court order in a case between her blood relatives and her husband.

Schindler said the study backs other findings about the “unscientific, inaccurate” diagnosis of a persistent vegetative state (PVS) and shows how it is “often” wrong when diagnosing people with severe injuries.

“As in the case of my sister, they’re using this diagnosis as a criterion to kill.”

Schindler said his family had asked a judge for similar testing for Terri but it was denied.

If the technique was easy to conduct and available, he said, it would have given a better understanding of her condition. “Why not ask, especially when it is going to end someone’s life?”

Asked whether the case offers insight into how unresponsive patients should be treated, he replied:

“Nobody should have to earn the right to hydration. We should do everything we can to care for these people, regardless of how responsive or unresponsive they are.”

Schindler lamented that people are being “indoctrinated” to see killing as “an act of compassion.”

“They should stop any further dehydration deaths, because we’re learning how inaccurate the PVS diagnosis is.”

Discussing the other patients who could not communicate, he said families of unresponsive patients should continue to treat them with “love and compassion.”

But the patient’s condition should never justify removing food, hydration or “basic care,” he stressed.

Schindler also noted that improvements on science are possible and could improve unresponsive patients’ functioning.

“We should never come to the conclusion that someone is better off starving to death,” he told CNA.

He was critical of news reports that claimed the new technology would not have helped Terri Schiavo, saying some stories were written “as if these doctors want to go out of their way to justify Terri’s death.”

“If you read these articles, it seems they always have this caveat: ‘let’s not jump to conclusions with Terri Schiavo and say these tests would have proven she wasn’t in the conditions the doctors said she was in.’”

Schindler told CNA that more doctors were on record saying that Terri could have been helped with some of the technology available. They believed that she wasn’t in a vegetative state.

He also advocated the elimination of the term “vegetative state” from common use, saying it is “dehumanizing” and devalues the person and his or her “inherent moral worth.” In his view, PVS diagnosis should also not be used as a criterion for ending someone’s life because of how often it is wrong.

Schindler said he describes unresponsive patients as “persons with brain injuries.”

“I don’t know why I have to label them as being a vegetable. I think it leads to an existing prejudice against these types of people,” he told CNA.

Remembering Terri on the Five-Year Anniversary of Her Death

Today, March 27, 2005, was Day 10 of Judge George W. Greer's court ordered slow death by starvation and dehydration of Terri Schindler Schiavo. Over the next two weeks we will post stories of the events that occurred on each of the 13 horrific days that Terri went without food or water. We offer this not only in respect for Terri's memory, but a reminder that in this moment countless people are suffering slow, agonizing deaths in hospice, nursing homes, and hospitals in America and around the world.

-----------------------------

Family 'Grief Stricken' as Legal Options Dissolve and Terri Schiavo Nears End

From March 27, 2005 (FBW)

In the hours just before Easter Sunday, when Christ's resurrection is remembered in special services throughout the world, Terri Schiavo's parents sent out an urgent request to supporters.

“Everyone go home. Be with your children, hold them close and cherish every moment you have with them,” said Paul O'Donnell (pictured), spiritual advisor to the Bob and Mary Schindler.

Voicing the wishes of the family to dozens of reporters in the day’s news conference at about 9 p.m. EST, O’Donnell referenced the approaching holiday and said the Schindler family is ‘grief stricken’ at watching their daughter’s life ebb away through court-ordered starvation and dehydration.

(continue reading . . .)

NEW!! CLICK HERE to read, "The Despicable "Family Guy" Hate Piece" by Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer

Media Release: Outcry from Across the County Continues Over FOX's 'Family Guy' Attack on Terri Schiavo (Click here to contact FOX Broadcasting!)

Family of Terri Schiavo Calls for FOX to End "The Family Guy" After Parody (Click here to watch video!)

Remembering Terri on the Five-Year Anniversary of Her Death

Today, March 27, 2005, was Day 11 of Judge George W. Greer's court ordered slow death by starvation and dehydration of Terri Schindler Schiavo. Over the next two weeks we will post stories of the events that occurred on each of the 13 horrific days that Terri went without food or water. We offer this not only in respect for Terri's memory, but a reminder that in this moment countless people are suffering slow, agonizing deaths in hospice, nursing homes, and hospitals in America and around the world.

-----------------------------

Judicial Barbarism May End in Horrific Death

From March 28, 2005 (Jewish World Review)

By Nat Hentoff

Not yet available

Florida Circuit Court Judge George Greer (pictured) has again ordered the removal of 41-year-old Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. As of this writing, attempts by the Republican Congressional leadership and some Democrats are being made to save her, through the courts, but the odds are long.

If she dies of dehydration and starvation, this grave injustice can affect the rights of many disabled Americans who do not have clearly written directives as to their treatment when they can no longer speak their wishes.

The fundamental issue in Terri's case is disability rights — not the right to die. Throughout all the extensive media coverage of the case, there has been only slight mention — usually none at all — that nearly every major disability rights organization has filed legal briefs to prevent what they and I regard as judicial murder. The protests are not only from pro-lifers and the Christian Right.

(continue reading . . .)

NEW!! CLICK HERE to read, "The Despicable "Family Guy" Hate Piece" by Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer

Media Release: Outcry from Across the County Continues Over FOX's 'Family Guy' Attack on Terri Schiavo (Click here to contact FOX Broadcasting!)

Family of Terri Schiavo Calls for FOX to End "The Family Guy" After Parody (Click here to watch video!)

The continued drive to dehumanize Terri continues.

There were many threads on this, this was the first and not troll-infested. Thread by Rastus.

'Family Guy' Stages 'Terri Schiavo: The Musical' for Laughs

Seth MacFarlane marked the five-year-anniversary of Terri Schiavo's court-ordered death by staging a preschool musical about it in his crass FOX cartoon, "Family Guy."

MacFarlane denied Schiavo human dignity in the March 21 episode by referring to her in lyrics sung by cartoon preschoolers as "the most expensive plant you'll ever see" and a "vegetable," and noted "her mashed potato brains."

The child who played the role of Schiavo's husband, Michael, ultimately concluded, "There's only one solution, it's in the Constitution, we've got to pull the plug."

Schiavo died on March 31, 2005, after her parents fought numerous legal battles, appealing to the United States Congress and Supreme Court, to keep her alive, against the wishes of her husband.

A chorus representing pro-life protesters sang in the show, "Terri Schaivo is kind of alive-oh. What a lively little bugger ... Terri Schiavo is kind of alive-oh, the most expensive plant you'll ever see." A "doctor" sang, "Maybe we should just unplug her."

Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo, spoke to pro-life activist Jill Stanek about MacFarlane's treatment of his sister's death.

"This just validates what our family has been saying from the beginning: There is a deep rooted prejudice against people with these types of brain injuries," he stated. "And it's why killing these people is being accepted more and more every day ... by our culture and our nation."

Schindler warned pro-life activists at last year's March for Life about the hatred they should expect to receive from the "secular media." He also detailed some of the horrors he witnessed as his sister slowly died

"My sister Terri Schiavo died a cruel and barbaric death that no family should ever have to witness. Let me tell you, her two-week dehydration death was horrifying," he told activists. "Watching blood pool in her eyes as she was deliberately killed by court order, my family decided her death would not be in vain."

Unfortunately for Schindler and the rest of Schiavo's friends and family, MacFarlane decided her death could be played for laughs.

"We will not be silent.
We are your bad conscience.
The White Rose will give you no rest."

The push to make euthanasia the norm continues.

Thread by NYer.

‘Plan Now for Suicide’ Australia’s Dr. Death Encourages Elderly Irish

DUBLIN, March 23, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Euthanasia and atheist campaigner Dr. Philip Nitschke, Australia’s “Dr. Death,” told an audience in Dublin this week that he had traveled to the country after receiving “significant interest” from elderly Irish wanting information on how to end their lives.

Nitschke’s visit was opposed by pro-life groups, which have charged that his activities constitute a violation of the country's criminal code that warrants police investigation.

Speaking in Dublin in Thursday night, Nitschke encouraged his audience at the Seomra Spraoi social centre to confirm their plans to commit suicide before they become too infirm. “Don’t wait until it’s too late, plan ahead and put in place an end-of-life strategy,” he said.

A major focus of his appearance, he said, was to help overturn Ireland’s blasphemy laws that, he contended, make it “almost impossible” to talk about assisted suicide for fear of opposition from religious groups.

Nitschke said, “As an atheist I am often asked to debate the ethical issues involved in providing a person with information that will allow them to end their life peacefully and reliably at a time of their choosing. I am constantly up against this idea that somehow life belongs to God. I disagree strongly with that assertion.”

But Rebecca Rougheen of the pro-life group Youth Defence called this claim a “red herring.” Rougheen told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that Nitschke “always tries to make out that opposition to his gruesome ideology is purely motivated by what he describes as religious bigotry.”

“When in fact, people of all creeds and none can see that what he is espousing is completely unethical and immoral.”

Nitschke’s appearance to give what was billed as a “self-deliverance workshop,” raised considerable opposition in the largely Catholic country. At the meeting he showed a video detailing the various methods he recommends for suicide, including the "exit bag" and other devices he invented and sells from his Melbourne-based group Exit International.

Promoting assisted suicide, however, is a criminal act under the current code in Ireland and pro-life groups are calling for action by the Justice Minister Dermot Ahern. “This workshop which counsels and assists in the procurement of suicide is illegal under the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993 and the Minister now needs to instruct the Gardai [police] to get involved,” said Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute.

Youth Defence used the social networking site Facebook to spread the word about Nitschke’s visit and to ask supporters to contact Minister Ahern. Rougheen told LSN that, in the end, only about five individuals signed up for Nitschke’s workshop. The rest of the audience, she said, were political activists and journalists.

After protests, four venues, all publicly funded, cancelled Nitschke’s appearance. In the end, he was hosted by the Seomra Spraoi group, a leftist political organization that does not receive public funding, and bills itself as a “non-hierarchical, anti-capitalist collective, run on a not-for-profit basis.”

Despite the presence of Dublin’s gardai outside, no protest was mounted at the event itself.

One elderly attendee told local Irish TV news that he had come to hold the “right to die” philosophy after seeing members of his family die “in considerable discomfort and pain.” Doctors, he said, “have not been able to help them to die in a dignified way.”

Statements such as these have sparked concerns in the pro-life movement that pain treatment and palliative care are not adequate in many areas, and that it is this inadequacy that is fueling the push for assisted suicide and euthanasia. Others have also expressed concerns that, with the rise in popularity of the euthanasia movement, governments, many of which have socialized medical systems, will regard killing the patient as a more cost-effective means of dealing with the terminally ill and elderly.

After the meeting, Nitschke told the Irish Times that the audience had been representative of others he had spoken to: “These are not sick people. These are people who have come along because they see that it makes sense to know about ending your life.”

Nitschke, a militant secularist and founder and director of the euthanasia group Exit International, was the first doctor in the world to administer a legal, voluntary, lethal injection, killing four people, before Australia's Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, which made assisted suicide lawful, was overturned by the Federal Parliament.

In 2000, he announced a plan to launch a “death ship,” similar to the notorious Dutch abortion ship of the group Women on Waves, that he said would have allowed him to circumvent local laws by euthanizing people in international waters. He has published two books, “Killing Me Softly” in 2005, his political manifesto, and 2007’s “The Peaceful Pill Handbook,” that gives instructions on how to commit suicide. The second book was banned in Australia and later in New Zealand.

He is also the inventor and promoter of two suicide devices, the “exit bag,” a large plastic bag with a drawstring allowing it to be secured around the neck, and the “CoGen” (or “Co-Genie”) device, that generates carbon monoxide.

Nitschke pledged to return to Ireland, leaving behind an “embryonic” group to continue campaigning.

Rougheen said that Youth Defence and the Life Institute would continue to press Minister Ahern, and encouraged pro-life people to call the ministry with concerns. Ahern, she said, needs to hear from the people “just how immoral and dangerous Nitschke’s campaign is.”

The Life Institute has commissioned a major report on euthanasia and end-of-life issues, which is expected later this year, and may run a newspaper campaign similar to last year’s Mother and Child Campaign.

“Nitschke said his operation got ‘record’ opposition in Ireland, and we’re determined he won’t be allowed to run these utterly objectionable, illegal workshops here again,” Rougheen said.

This will be a common occurrence under Obamacare.

Thread by topher.

Seattle Mom: School Sent My Daughter for Secret Abortion without Telling Me

SEATTLE, Washington, March 24, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Seattle mother is furious after learning that her 15-year-old daughter was sent by her school's health center for a secret abortion, reports ABC-affiliate KOMO.

The mother, identified only as “Jill,” says her daughter was given a pregnancy test at Ballard High School's Teen Health Center, which came back positive. Rather than informing the parents, she said, the center gave the girl a pass and put her in a taxi for the abortuary, all during school hours.

"They just told her that if she concealed it from her family, that it would be free of charge and no financial responsibility," Jill said.

She added that she had signed a consent form allowing her daughter to be treated at the health center, thinking it covered issues like earaches, sports physicals, or even contraception, but wasn't aware they would be arranging abortions.

"Nowhere in this paperwork does it mention abortion or facilitating abortion." she said. "Signing this paper makes me feel like my rights were completely stripped away."

T.J. Cosgrove of the King County Health Department, which oversees the center, explained that Washington state does not recognize parents' opinions on such issues. "At any age in the state of Washington, an individual can consent to a termination of pregnancy," he said.

Contact Information:

Principal Phil Brockman
Ballard High School
1418 NW 65th Street
Seattle, WA 98117
Phone: 206-252-1000
Fax: 206-252-1001

40 Days for Life has ended but prayers continue.

One thread by me and daily threads by Faith.

"20 Years Ago I Had an abortion" - 40 Days Update

Commentary by David Bereit, National Coordinator, 40 Days for Life

March 23, 2010 (40DaysforLife) - As this 40 Days for Life campaign continues, the need for prayer for an end to abortion grows clearer each day -- as does the need to pray for healing for those whose lives have been turned upside down because of their experiences with the pain caused by abortion.

Lynda said that through her efforts with 40 Days for Life, she often meets both women and men "who come to confess an earlier and much regretted decision to have an abortion."

She had one person tell her, "I always wonder what my daughter's sister would look like."

"It's so sad," she said. "There are so many broken hearts; so much emptiness. There was a person who came to me in tears saying how sorry she was about her decision so many years ago. We must continue to pray."

Nancy's story is typical of what many 40 Days for Life vigil participants are hearing.

"I was pregnant -- but not by the man I had lived with for the previous years," she said. An older friend -- whom she considered wiser and more experienced -- recommended abortion. "No one spoke for the life of my preborn."

Nancy is one of the millions who regret their abortions. Thankfully, she found healing in Christ.

The message that healing is indeed possible is part of the 40 Days for Life witness at many of the vigils.

There's a photo of the 40 Days for Life vigil in Everett, Washington that illustrates that. Prayer volunteers are carrying signs from the Silent No More Awareness Campaign that read, "Women do regret abortion" and "Men regret lost fatherhood."

"Praying in front of Planned Parenthood has drawn me closer to the cross than I've ever been before in my life," wrote Julie. "Twenty years ago, I had an abortion. I never knew the power of prayer until now."

For years, she said, the pain, shame and all that goes with it had been buried deep within her. "This year, God called me to 40 Days for Life and I was listening."

She broke down while praying at the vigil. Two days later, "I made a complete confession and turned my life over to God, completely.

"I know I still have a long way to go in healing," Julie said, "but I can't express what it feels like to be forgiven. Thank you for your encouragement and thanks to all of the participants of 40 Days for Life. I could not have done this alone."

"I was in the same situation some 30 years ago," explained Alicia. "I was filled with such unimaginable guilt." It took years for her to finally listen to God and actually accept His forgiveness -- and forgive herself.

"I thank God that this beautiful ministry exists," she said, "and will continue until the end of abortion comes to pass."

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 33 - BABIES!---NOT BLOBS OF TISSUE!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 34 - DEFEND THE BABIES EVEN WHEN YOUR GOVERNMENT BETRAYS THEM!!!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 35 - STAND FOR THE INNOCENT EVEN WHEN THE GOVERNMENT BETRAYS THEM.

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 36 - PRAY FOR THOSE WHO THINK ABORTION IS A SOLUTION.

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 37 - MAY THE LORD CHANGE THIS NATION---ONE HEART AT A TIME.

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 38 - EVERY BABY HAS A RIGHT TO LIVE.

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 39 - WE CONTINUE IN FAITH UNTIL EVERY BABY IS ALLOWED TO LIVE!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 40 - FORTY DAYS ARE OVER BUT THE NEED CONTINUES.

How great is our God, the Creator---the Author and Giver of life?
BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF PRAYER!
Pray for God’s help in ending abortion, and in establishing a culture that supports life in America.
40 Days for Life consists of 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion,
40 days of constant, peaceful vigil outside abortion centers and Planned Parenthood offices
and 40 days of active pro-life community outreach.

"They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters... and the land was polluted with blood. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and He abhorred his heritage; he gave them into the hands of the nations, so that those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their power. (See Psalm 106:37-43)

Your community may be participating in this prayerful vigil.
If so, please join others in your area
or unite with thousands across America
in these 40 days during Lent
as we pray for an end to abortion in this nation.

Remembering Terri on the Five-Year Anniversary of Her Death

Today, March 29, 2005, was Day 12 of Judge George W. Greer's court ordered slow death by starvation and dehydration of Terri Schindler Schiavo. Over the next two weeks we will post stories of the events that occurred on each of the 13 horrific days that Terri went without food or water. We offer this not only in respect for Terri's memory, but a reminder that in this moment countless people are suffering slow, agonizing deaths in hospice, nursing homes, and hospitals in America and around the world.

-----------------------------

Jesse Jackson Prays with Schiavo’s Parents

From March 29, 2005 (Orlando.com)

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said the treatment of Terri Schiavo is an "injustice" and denying her feeding tube is "unnecessary" during a visit to the woman's Florida hospice Tuesday.

"Without food or water for 12 days, there are vital signs and she is being starved to death," Jackson said. "She is being dehydrated to death and that is inhumane. It is immoral and it is unnecessary. There is no rational reason for this to happen."

(continue reading . . .)

NEW!! CLICK HERE to read, "The Despicable "Family Guy" Hate Piece" by Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer

Media Release: Outcry from Across the County Continues Over FOX's 'Family Guy' Attack on Terri Schiavo (Click here to contact FOX Broadcasting!)

Family of Terri Schiavo Calls for FOX to End "The Family Guy" After Parody (Click here to watch video!)

Anyone who is in the Naples area should try to attend.

Thread by topher.

March 31 Marks Fifth Annual National Memorial for 'Terri’s Day'

NAPLES, Florida, March 29, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Friends of Terri Schiavo are calling on the pro-life community to commemorate her murder by dehydration and starvation on March 31, the anniversary of her death, by learning more about Terri's story and praying for other vulnerable individuals at risk of a similar fate.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, will be the celebrant and homilist at the Annual National Mass for Terri’s Day, Wednesday night, March 31 at the Ave Maria Oratory of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida.

“On March 31, five years ago, Terri Schiavo died a court mandated and government enforced death,” said Fr. Pavone. “I saw for myself, as I held her hand and prayed at her bedside, that this death was not ‘peaceful’ and ‘beautiful’ as euthanasia advocates want us to think.

"Moreover, as health care is placed more and more in the hands of the government, we have to be more vigilant than ever to protect the Terris of today and tomorrow.”

“Terri’s Day” was established by Terri’s family and Priests for Life to foster education, prayer, and activism to counter discrimination against the disabled. The groups are urging churches, schools, organizations, families, and individuals to observe the day. Suggested prayers and activities are available at http://www.terrisday.org/.

The National Mass for Terri’s Day will be held on March 31 at 5:00 pm, at 5040 Ave Maria Boulevard, Ave Maria, FL 34142. A light reception will follow.

Click here to donate in support of Terri's Day.

This is an excellent commentary connecting the dots between abortion and euthanasia.

Thread by me.

Maria Vitale: Abortion's Slippery Slope Led to Killing Terri Schiavo, We Must Never Forget

I'll never forget where I was when I heard the awful news that Terri Schiavo had died.

I was on vacation, spending spring break with my daughter. And, while I relished the time I had with my little one, there was a sense of sadness, knowing that far away in Florida, a woman was being dehydrated and starved to death.

For me, the execution of Terri Schiavo is like President Kennedy’s assassination—something so unbelievable, so tragic, the pain continues, long after the victim has been laid to rest.

Last year, during the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation’s Celebrate Life Banquet, former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline publicly apologized to Terri’s brother, Bobby Schindler, who had given a talk at the pro-life conference in Scranton earlier that day. In the banquet hall, before hundreds of people, Kline spoke of his deep sorrow about Terri’s untimely death, and he said that he believed that Bobby deserved an apology.

If only the perpetrators of that death would apologize, too.

Five years after the tragedy, myths and misinformation abound. When I speak at schools and ask students what they know about the Terri Schiavo case, they tell me she was brain-dead and that she was a vegetable—neither of which is true. Media accounts repeat the falsehoods about her life and death.

A part of me is still mystified that our judicial system could allow the execution of an innocent individual, whose only crime was that she was disabled. In the land of the free, how could such a monstrosity occur?

And yet, another part of me is not surprised. After all, when I was in seventh grade, our pro-life teacher drew a line on the blackboard connecting the word “abortion” with the word “euthanasia.” The killing of pre-born children leads to the killing of older people, people with disabilities, and people who are ill. Life is a tapestry, and when one thread has been pulled out by advocates of abortion, the rest of the threads begin to unravel.

2005, the year of Terri Schiavo’s death, can be traced to 1973, the year of the infamous Roe v. Wade court ruling legalizing abortion for any reason during all nine months of pregnancy.

The anniversary of Terri’s demise should mean some soul-searching for our nation. Have we become so callous that we have no compassion for one who, while different from ourselves, is no less human?

Each time we see a picture of Terri, the phrase “never forget” should come to mind. We should never forget that a beautiful woman was struck down in the prime of life, just because her existence was no longer convenient, her life dismissed as unworthy.

If ever there was a victim of wrongful judgment, it was Terri Schiavo.

"We will not be silent.
We are your bad conscience.
The White Rose will give you no rest."

Remembering Terri on the Five-Year Anniversary of Her Death

Today, March 30, 2005, was Day 13 of Judge George W. Greer's (pictured below) court ordered slow death by starvation and dehydration of Terri Schindler Schiavo. Over the next two weeks we will post stories of the events that occurred on each of the 13 horrific days that Terri went without food or water. We offer this not only in respect for Terri's memory, but a reminder that in this moment countless people are suffering slow, agonizing deaths in hospice, nursing homes, and hospitals in America and around the world.

-----------------------------

The Culture of Death Advances

From March 30, 2005 (WorldNetDaily)

By Pat J. Buchanan

On Good Friday, as Terri Schiavo lay dying of thirst in Woodside Hospice, Gabriel Keys took her a cup of water. Not yet available

Gabriel was arrested, handcuffed and taken away.

Apparently, no one taught Gabriel that you do not disobey a judge's order, even to bring water to someone dying of thirst. As he is 10 years old, he is probably not yet conversant with the new morality, where a corporal work of mercy can be a crime. Perhaps his parents filled his mind with such subversive texts as, "Whoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones, a cup of cold water" shall not lose eternal life.

(continue reading . . .)

NEW!! Faith Leaders to Honor Terri Schiavo in Front of the White House on the 5th Anniversary of Her Death (click here to read more . . .)

Media Release: Outcry from Across the County Continues Over FOX's 'Family Guy' Attack on Terri Schiavo (Click here to contact FOX Broadcasting!)

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