Let Lauren Live!

ChristtheKingMaine ^ | May 7, 2008 | Judie Brown

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LAUREN RICHARDSON - YOU CAN HELP!
By Judie Brown

It has been a source of ongoing sadness to read of the difficulties Lauren Richardson’s father has had over the course of the past several months. For those of you who are not familiar with her case, Lauren overdosed on heroin on August 28, 2006. She suffered oxygen deprivation and, as a result of the overdose, is now in a coma and unable to speak out for herself. At the time of the overdose, Lauren was expecting a baby. Her parents honored what they knew would have been her wish and did all they could to keep her healthy and comfortable until the child was born. Today, though Lauren may not be aware of it, she is the mother of Ember Grace, who was born in February 2007.

Since the birth of her daughter, Lauren remains unable to speak of her concerns, but she has a loving father who is doing all he can to protect her from suffering the same fate as Terri Schiavo. However, Lauren’s mother, who has been named her legal guardian, is sadly not of the same opinion and is working with attorneys to pressure the courts to permit Lauren’s starvation.

Lauren’s father has kept hope alive, even at times when there appeared to be no hope in human terms. Lauren’s father is a man of hope in Christ and is dedicated to spending every breath he has on defending Lauren, regardless of what it might cost him in physical exhaustion and worldly goods. The most recent update for those concerned about Lauren tells us the following:

We struggle at times as we seek to share with the public the details of what is happening with Lauren because of the disagreement we have with Lauren’s mother. We cannot understand her reasoning in refusing a path of hope, healing and restoration for Lauren and insisting on causing her death by withholding food and water from her. The issue in Lauren’s case is the eternal truth that all people, no matter what their medical condition, bear the image of God and deserve basic care and an opportunity to be restored to health.

Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo’s brother, has written about Lauren in an editorial earlier this year, "False Compassion," and is working closely with Lauren’s father in order to provide expertise that he is uniquely qualified to share during a trying time like this.

There are many links on the Life for Lauren web site that will assist you in tracking this case and learning who is supporting Lauren’s ongoing care and who is opposing it. More importantly, there is something you can do to express your concerns.

ACTION NEEDED NOW

The governor of Delaware, Ruth Ann Minner, is being asked by pro-life Americans across this nation to intervene in this case in order to save Lauren from what many fear is an imminent court order dictating that Lauren be starved and dehydrated to death. I am asking you to be one of those who communicates your passionate belief that Lauren’s life is sacred and deserves to be protected from those who would order her death. The governor’s e-mail address is governor.minner@state.de.us.

Further, it would mean a great deal to Lauren’s father, Randy, if you sent him a copy of your e-mail to Governor Ruth Ann Minner. Randy’s e-mail address is Lifeforlauren@aol.com. 

During a recent visit to Anchorage, Alaska where Bobby Schindler was invited to speak, he told a reporter from The Catholic Anchor, "Once we accept that killing is an acceptable answer to human suffering, we lose any type of parameters. Euthanasia is a form of abandonment. It is not compassion."

Truer words were never spoken. As I frequently tell people who argue that we pro-lifers are being heartless and cruel for fighting to defend the rights of a "hopeless case," "God is the author of every human being’s life, and He has never given permission to a single one of us to arbitrarily rob another human being of life for any reason including disability or illness."

As Flannery O’Connor once wrote on the subject of false compassion, "In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness. And tenderness leads to the gas chamber."

Lauren Richardson is not terminal – she is severely disabled. Lauren Richardson should not be murdered.

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

[PhilDragoo]

Obama: Mental distress can't justify late abortion

Senator Lava Lamp was for including severe mental distress before he was against it.

He sincerely hopes NARAL will read between the lines of his current expedient happy talk and understand he's still down for the struggle against the unborn.

He wishes to add that he only voted against the Born Alive Act because he feared (wink-wink) it "wouldn't pass constitutional muster".

Of course, the constitution is part of his Change platform, and, Obama willing, it will attain that perfect Lava Lamp nature.

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Hmmmm,WND picked up on the story on what is happening to Lauren! Wagglebee has a separate post on it.

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Members of the Delaware House of Representatives have approved a resolution declaring "it is against the public policy of this state" for food and water to be withheld from a 24-year-old woman left with brain injuries following a drug overdose.

The case of Lauren Richardson is reminiscent of that of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who died after courts ruled doctors could follow her husband's orders to deprive her of food and water until she died.

The Schiavo case, on which WND reported exhaustively, ended in March 2005 when she died, despite a battle by her parents who wanted to care for her to overturn a court order allowing the removal of her feeding tube.

Randy Richardson, Lauren's father, now is battling his former wife, the medical establishment and the court system for the life of his daughter.

Judie Brown of the American Life League has issued a call to those who are concerned about such cases to help.

"The governor of Delaware, Ruth Ann Minner, is being asked by pro-life Americans across this nation to intervene in this case in order to save Lauren from what many fear is an imminent court order dictating that Lauren be starved and dehydrated to death," she wrote. "I am asking you to be one of those who communicates your passionate belief that Lauren's life is sacred and deserves to be protected from those who would order her death. The governor's e-mail address is governor.minner@state.de.us."

Lawmakers' verdict: 'Don't starve woman' (Lauren Richardson)

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Be sure to check out the full story in WND in the link at the wagglebee thread, also here.

Lawmakers' verdict: 'Don't starve woman'... 'It is against the public policy of this state for nutrition to be involuntarily removed'

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I have oft repeated the concept of the far left propaganda machine but never have I seen the lie wrapped so eloquently as in this crafted phrase from the UK. To repeat the propaganda effort shouted long and loud, decent Americans wanted people like innocent Terri dead and abhor any effort to save her life. Now it is couched in verbiage of this guy who probably even likes the Obama Nation.

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Obama should proceed cautiously in his efforts to woo religious voters, however, taking heed of the ambiguous lessons of Bush's efforts at religious outreach. Indeed, the steeply declining fortunes of the Bush administration in its second term illustrate the considerable risk of aligning oneself too closely with intensely pious members of the electorate. While the biggest factors in explaining Bush's record-low approval ratings are the seemingly endless Iraq war and the lacklustre American economy, Bush's slide in the polls began in March 2005, with the decision of the president and the Republican Congress to reward religious voters for their support by intervening in the wrenching right-to-die case of Terri Schiavo - an act that disgusted all but the most extreme opponents of euthanasia. Likewise, Bush's nomination of the evangelical Harriet Miers to the US supreme court blew up in his face, as nearly every other faction of the conservative movement openly and adamantly rejected her as an intellectually unworthy nominee. Getting too close to evangelicals can be political poison, it seems, even for a conservative Republican.

George Bush's other legacy... The president's most pernicious achievement is not the war on terror but the injection of religion into public life

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Some good news in South Dakota! Thread by wagglebee.

SIOUX FALLS, SD, July 3, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in a 7-4 decision, will allow South Dakota to begin enforcing a state law that requires abortion providers to tell women, in writing, that the abortion procedure "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." In Planned Parenthood v. Rounds, the Court vacated a temporary injunction that had been issued by the trial court, which had blocked the law from going into effect....

Abortionists in S. Dakota Required to Admit Abortion Kills a "Living Human Being"

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While in California....

Thread by wagglebee.

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Though sponsors of a bill that would promote euthanasia removed some of the problematic language from the measure, a leading California pro-life group says several concerns remain.

The bill would codify palliative sedation and voluntary stopping of eating and drinking as legitimate means of pain control and allow doctors and nurses to suggest death by unconscious dehydration.....

Pro-Life Group Says Bill Promoting Euthanasia Still Has Major Concerns

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As we repeat again and again, the death soldiers march relentlessly, never rest, are stopped only by our constant vigilance. As in the UK...

Thread by wagglebee.

July 3, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A British "end of life" care protocol approved for use by the National Health Service (NHS), has created a systematic, and legal, method of euthanising elderly and disabled patients, even while "mercy killing" remains officially illegal, says a prominent expert in elder care. The "Liverpool Care Pathway" will be used to eliminate patients deemed to be "blocking beds" in the increasingly financially strapped public health system.

For years, Dr. Adrian Treloar, a psycho-geriatrician and senior lecturer at the Greenwich Hospital and Guys', King's and St. Thomas's Hospitals in London, has been sounding the warning that the NHS has an unofficial system in place to authorise the killing of vulnerable disabled patients with an unwritten policy of "involuntary euthanasia" by deep sedation and dehydration.......

Britain's Pathway to Euthanasia - NHS Protocols for Dehydrating Disabled Patients to Death

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>>Send in the anti-Christ--wait, don't bother--he's here.

My wafe was glad for your observation. She has been shocking and disturbing religious ladies by simply observing how anti-Christs may appear and with each passing day, linking the matching characteristics of the Obamunist.

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wafe = wife and not waif...

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New Crist Minstrals to warble in tune in the future as Charlie may seek justice in all the left places.

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In light of recent developments, Gov. Charlie Crist must be salivating at the prospect of appointing four justices to the Florida Supreme Court.

Rarely is a governor subjected to a judicial smack-down the likes of which occurred Thursday.

~Snip~

The author of the opinion was Justice Raoul Cantero, who will resign from the court next month, opening a floodgate of four resignations on the seven-member court.

After Cantero leaves, Justice Kenneth Bell will soon follow. And Justices Charles Wells and Harry Lee Anstead will hang up their black robes in 2009 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. The exodus will give Crist an unparalleled opportunity to "pack" the court with jurists who just might be inclined to see things his way.

And in the past, Crist has championed the very judicial independence that smacked him Thursday.

As attorney general three years ago, Crist praised two judges in the Terri Schiavo case, Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer and U.S. District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa. Both men played a role in rejecting the Legislature's and then-Gov. Jeb Bush's efforts to intervene in the Schiavo matter.

Crist called them "heroes" for preserving judicial independence.............

Crist gets to reshape high court

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That pro-life people would even need to......

Thread by rhema with thanks to narses for the ping.

Pro-life teachers, students and other educators have been protesting this week at the National Education Association annual convention at the Washington Convention Center. The protest, which started on Wednesday, pointed out how the union has upset pro-life advocates many times over the years.

Most recently, the NEA came under fire from pro-life advocates when it hosted a forum featuring a late-term abortion practitioner....

Pro-Life Advocates Protest Abortion at National Education Association Convention

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Good for Fred! Thread by wagglebee.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Former Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson served as the highlight of the opening ceremonies of the National Right to Life convention Thursday morning. He urged the more than one thousand pro-life activists attending the annual event to stick to their pro-life principles regardless of the wins or losses.

Thompson said there “has been a lot of talk about the need for change in this country and this has become Senator Obama’s mantra.”

He said Congress is controlled by pro-abortion politicians “so I see the need for great change in this country.”

Thompson worried about a change in the wrong direction and said Americans should be focused on reasserting the pro-life principles that makes the United States great.....

Fred Thompson Opens National Right to Life Convention With Pro-Life Passion

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We get the picture the left cannot acknowledge...

Thread by wagglebee.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- He took the photograph that has become one of the most recognized pictures in the pro-life community and he shared his story with attendees at the National Right to Life convention. He recounted how a childhood filled with agony and despair led to a life-long dedication to advancing the pro-life perspective.

The photographer is Michael Clancy and his picture is of Samuel Armas grabbing a doctor’s hand during the operation....

Michael Clancy: The Photographer Whose Amazing Pro-Life Picture Changed the World

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Auf Wiedersehen, Bettina Schardt...

Suiciding in Germany and a related link in this thread by Coleus...

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A German politician who helped a woman to end her life and released a video of her death has caused outrage in Germany and prompted the authorities to try to tighten their rules on . Roger Kusch, a former senator in Hamburg and a prominent right-to-die campaigner, has said he advised Bettina Schardt, a healthy 79-year-old pensioner, on how to prepare a lethal cocktail of sedatives and anti-malaria drugs which would kill her. He said he then left her flat shortly before she died.

Mr Kusch filmed nine hours of conversations with the unmarried and childless woman, who said she dreaded being taken to a home for the elderly. However, she did not have a terminal illness and said: "I can't say that I am suffering." The subject of euthanasia is particularly sensitive in Germany due to the Nazis who some historians estimate killed more than 100,000 mentally handicapped or incurably ill people between 1940 and 1945...........

Suicide video outrages Germany

And this link posted by Coleus...

The arguments for and against Initiative 1000, which would allow doctors to prescribe lethal medicines to patients with six months or less to live, remain essentially the same as they were when former Gov. Booth Gardner filed the initiative in January.........

Death initiative is on its way

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Where is the truth with Obama? One guess...

Thread by wagglebee.

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In a report on Monday’s "The Situation Room" purporting to clarify how Barack Obama "really voted on abortion" (as the graphic on-screen at right stated), CNN correspondent Carol Costello misconstrued the Democrat’s stance on legislation during his time in the Illinois state senate that would have protected infants that survived abortions.

Besides the two votes specifically mentioned by Costello in the report, Obama also voted against it at the committee level, and when he was committee chair, denied a simple up or down vote on the legislation. The CNN correspondent also misrepresented the apparent pro-life stance of pro-abortion senators like "liberal Ted Kennedy" when the U.S. Senate voted on similar legislation.

The bill passed by unanimous consent, so none of the senators actually voted yes or no on it.

Substitute host John Roberts introduced the segment, and asked Costello, "what are the allegations and what's the truth about Obama's abortion record?" Though the CNN correspondent did present both sides of the debate on the issue, she left out key details about Obama’s voting record......

CNN Runs Biased News Story Covering Up Barack Obama’s Pro-Abortion Record

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We may now have hope for the best outcome and we prepare for the worst.

Oremus

[floriduh voter]

So glad you excerpted the Crist front page news that REMINDS US he gave a keynote speech at a country club soire for LAWYERS LIKE JANET RENO where in Crist called Greer and Whittemore "heroes" for judicial independence (a/k/a KILLING TERRI SCHIAVO).

J. Whittemore defied the POTUS and the US Congress - traitors in my book, not heroes. This is what J. Greer did www.judgegeorgegreer.com.

whittemore and greer: FRIENDS OF PORNOGRAPHY, TRAITORS TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND ENABLERS FOR BATTERING, ABUSING, ADULTERING, EVIL SPOUSES.

And today's front page St. Pete Times: Jeb, the pontious pilate of Florida. (actually the Jeb story was on 3 pages. Jeb must be up to something).

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Haleigh Poutre update...

It is remarkable and lengthy, a summary in the events leading to Haleigh's escape from state sponsored death. As this is Boston.com, I may only excerpt from the nine pages of story and it may require free subscription to view all. Thanks, BB, for the tip.

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The police officers had seen it all, but never anything like this.

Graphic Haleigh's family tree

Last December, they stood inside a bedroom in a Brighton rehabilitation facility, visiting with Haleigh Poutre, a 13-year-old girl once deemed so hopelessly brain-damaged that judges approved the removal of her life support.

But now Haleigh was not only breathing, but also communicating. And it wasn't just any conversation. She was answering questions about who might have delivered a near-fatal blow to her head nearly three years ago..................

The little girl they couldn't see... Authorities believed Haleigh Poutre's many wounds were self-inflicted, and that her adoptive home was safe. What they missed nearly killed her.

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Related to Haleigh's case...

BOSTON — The House of Representatives thisweek gave final approval to a bill that will toughen the laws meant to protect children from abuse and neglect and ensure the protection of children is at the top of the state’s agenda with a new child advocate dedicated solely to child welfare............

Child protection bill now before governor

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Remember Jesse Ramirez?

Professor Pope updates us on the latest of the fallout. Thanks, Leslie, for the tip.

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At the end of June, Arizona enacted HB2832 which clarifies that a surrogate who is not a patient’s agent or guardian shall not make decisions to withdraw the artificial administration of food or fluid.

The bill is referred to as "Jesse's Law." In May 2007, Jesse Ramirez suffered serious injuries from an auto accident. Just ten days after the accident, and only a short time after his last brain surgery, Jesse’s feeding tube was removed and he was transferred to a hospice facility. His sister and mother fileda petition to challenge the decision to remove Jesse’s feeding tube, and the hospice facility reinserted the tube. Today, Jesse continues to make tremendous rehabilitation progress.

While the bill really is just a clarification and does not seem to substantively change Arizona law, it does illustrate a potential shift in power from health care providers back to the courts. Most patients (especially young ones) have not completed advance directives. Therefore, once the patient loses capacity, the only way for the surrogate to withdraw ANH is to get appointed as guardian by a court.

Health Care Decisions Acts were enacted in nearly every state to permit health care providers to determine, on their own, what incompetent patients would have wanted and who they would have wanted to make decisions on their behalf. After all, of the four Americans who die every minute, two die as the result of a deliberate decision to stop life sustaining medical treatment. Courts and policymakers determined thirty years ago that those decisions not only did not need to be judicially reviewed but also that they should not be judicially reviewed. Sure, some mistakes are made. But will judicial review reduce the error rate? By how much? Is it worth the additional administrative burden? Can the same objective be achieved extra-judicially?

Posted by Thaddeus Mason Pope at 2:55 AM

Taking EOL Authority Away from Providers

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