A father I'd want on my side (Robert Schindler, Sr. - Father of the late Terri Schiavo)

Baptist Press ^ | 9/1/09 | Joni B. Hannigan

[wagglebee]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--I envied Terri Schiavo for her father, Bob. There were times I thought: What a waste, she doesn't know how good she has it. Not like it was her fault, but if only she knew.

But of course she knew.

From all the firsthand accounts and the vivid description of my friend David Gibbs, the attorney who fought for the right of Bob Schindler's daughter to live, Terri herself knew what it was like to feel the whiskered face of her father rough up against her cheek and tickle her until she smiled.

She knew when he walked in the room and gently took her hand in his big one and squeezed it to ask her how her day was. Her eyes had followed his bright ones, though his were tinged by the pain of having to defend his position that she deserved to be cared for until God decided her life should end.

A father's duty.

Some argued that it was her husband's duty. At first it seemed that way.

Michael Schiavo seemed tolerant of her family's visits, and even lived in their home for a while planning for her care after she suffered a neurological injury in 1990 caused by lack of oxygen to the brain. Her family visited her in various facilities. They brought her clothes. Her mom fixed her hair, put her makeup on, and took her on outings.

Then her husband seemed to grow weary. His heart was pulled to another. He had been married to Terri less than half a dozen years before Terri's collapse. Finally, there was a judge who was willing to believe him when said he thought Terri would not want to live in her condition. He asked the judge for permission to remove her nutrition and hydration, knowing it would cause her to die.

And still Terri's father and mother and sister and brother were there for her.

They appeared in court. They hired attorneys. They fought for the right to visit her, bring her comforting items, spend time in her room. The fight lasted nearly a decade.

The trips outside had stopped. No more makeup. Her window shades were pulled down and she was not allowed activities which were stimulating. She was sent to a hospice to die.

Right until the end, Bob refused to give up on his daughter.

"She's still fighting and we are going to fight to do whatever we can to save her," Bob said after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a final appeal to hear her case on March 30, 2005. "I'm asking that nobody throw in the towel, she's fighting -- keep fighting with her."

It was 9:05 a.m., the day after her father made that statement in front of the hospice, that Terri died. Thirteen days after her nutrition and hydration had been pulled, for the third time in 15 years.

I was there for many of those 13 days. And I had been there two years before, the second time the Schindlers had fought her husband and the court when they threatened to remove her sustenance. What few people understand is that Terri wasn't hooked up to machines or anything, she simply needed food and water to live; because there was a fear she would choke, at some point she was put on a feeding tube.

In 2003 in front of the hospice in a trailer was the very first time I met the Schindlers and reported on their case. That extensive and very personal story is here: http://bit.ly/lo8Lx.

From the beginning Bob was warm and friendly, if worn. Mary was passionately sad. At one point in our interview she actually grabbed my hand and said, "Joni, I don't know if I can go through this again," referring to the court ordering Terri's nutrition and hydration to cease.

My heart broke for all of them.

I'm two years older than Terri. I was raised Catholic, but after that, most of the similarities end. I never did know the love of a father, growing up. When Bob spoke of his firstborn and both their eyes filled with tears, I could only think of how I would feel if my firstborn, my daughter, would be in such a state.

I actually called my daughter on the way to the interview. I asked her what she thought. She told me, "Mama, I would want you to do whatever you wanted because, honestly, I wouldn't know anything anyway. I would be just like a baby and you would be protecting me. So I understand."

In meeting Bob and Mary and then covering the case for two years, I realized just how deep was their love -- indeed how deep the family's love is for each other. They were protective, caring, careful and steadfast.

Bobby Schindler, Terri's brother, was always courteous and kind, though I am a member of the media. Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri's sister, was steady but painfully conscious of our constant intrusion. All of them were involved in a balancing act of giving the press what we needed, knowing they could be crucified or vindicated, depending on who was doing the reporting.

But Bob, walking the crowds at night outside the hospice, eternally hopeful, ever vigilant, wore his heart in his eyes. Every bright tear spoke of the love he had for his daughter. It was apparent his only motivation was the love of a father. He was a man protecting his family in the noblest way.

I could hardly meet his eyes outside the hospice on the day she died as he stood with Bobby and Suzanne, chin slightly quivering. His tears were palpable. The horde of media were amazingly silent and respectful as Bobby read a statement. Red eyes all around me, in our ranks of media professionals, gave me the knowledge that I was not alone in thinking many witnesses to this day would walk away with the knowledge that this was not a "happy ending."

Each time I thought about Terri's death thereafter and tried to reconcile it with God's sovereignty, I had a hard time. Especially when I considered her parents' pain.

A year later when I went to St. Petersburg to interview Bob and Mary at the office of the foundation they had established to help people in similar circumstances, I finally gained some perspective.

Walking with me to my car after showing me around the office, Bob grabbed me in a hug to say goodbye. I felt those whiskers that were said to make Terri smile despite their irritation. It made me smile in spite of the lump in my throat.

He had lost so much, and I asked him, really, how he was doing.

"You are such a Baptocatholic," he said, using the nickname he'd given me after finding out I was raised Catholic before becoming an evangelical Christian as a young teen.

He essentially told me he'd be fine, that God does have a plan and it's hard but it's was going to be OK.

"We just learn to forgive. We just have to," he said, referring to a statement he had made in the office a few minutes before in which he said the timing of Terri's death was "God's will."

God has a plan. He believed that, and so do I. Goodbye, my friend. Thanks for standing up for Terri until the very end. You were, indeed, a father I'd want on my side.

Joni B. Hannigan is managing editor of Florida Baptist Witness at www.FloridaBaptistWitness.com. She covered the Terri Schiavo story extensively and her photos were used in "Fighting for Dear Life: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo" by David Gibbs and in an award-winning documentary hosted by Joni Eareckson Tada, "The Terri Schiavo Story." A full-length version of this column can be found at http://jonibh.wordpress.com.

[wagglebee]

40 Days for Life continues to save lives.

Threads by Faith.

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 8 - Be a Good Samaritan: Do not turn away from those who need our help!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 9 - GOD CAN USE YOU IN THIS BATTLE TO SAVE THE UNBORN!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 10 - IT'S NOT A BLOB OF TISSUE---IT'S A BABY!!!!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[wagglebee]

This is an excellent commentary comparing abortion to ACORN.

Thread by me.

Star Parker: Outrage over ACORN, but not abortion

The ACORN scandal shows that if Congress wants to act, it can.

Within weeks of Fox airing videos of a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute being advised by ACORN “community organizers” on how to evade taxes and set up a prostitution ring, our stalwart Washington legislators voted to cut off federal funds to the organization.

But similar publicized abuses at Planned Parenthood — workers agreeing to cover up rape or earmarking funds to abort black babies — all captured on video and audio — produced no similar action in Washington to cut off funds.

Why?

Of course, the scope of taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood is many times greater — a few hundred million dollars per year versus a few million.

But that’s no explanation.

Congress acts when voters demand it. And, sadly, the decibel level of outrage about abortion, let alone federal funds supporting abortion enablers, is not great enough. . .

[wagglebee]

I posted this yesterday and opinions seem mixed. I am considering posting the Terri Dailies threads as a pro-life caucus, but I won't do anything until I hear from some of you.

Vanity About Possible Pro-Life Caucus

[wagglebee]

I look forward to reading Bobby Schindler's speech.

Thread by me.

Terri Schiavo's Brother Bobby Schindler to Speak at University of Notre Dame

South Bend, IN (LifeNews.com) -- On the heels of pro-abortion President Barack Obama speaking at the University of Notre Dame and getting an honorary degree, a noted pro-life advocate will give a speech at its law school. Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo, whose husband subjected her to a painful euthanasia death, will speak.

Schindler has been invited to speak today at The University of Notre Dame Law School as part of the Jus Vitae speaker’s series.

Jus Vitae is committed to the principle that the right to life is inherent and inalienable in every human being and cannot be abridged by any action of government or any group of citizens.

That is a far cry from the principles of Obama, the pro-abortion president who moved immediately to make taxpayers fund abortions, but who received a platform and award from the prominent Catholic educational institution. . .

[wagglebee]

40 Days for Life continues to save lives.

Thanks to Faith for all of her work on the daily prayer threads.

40 Days for Life: 123 Babies Saved - So Far!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 11 - WHO WILL DEFEND THE UNBORN? WILL YOU?

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 12 - 27,000 BABIES THIS WEEK! PLEASE PRAY!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 13 - PRAY FOR FATHERS, TOO.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[floriduh voter]

Yes, if you do a new banner with Terri in it with others.

If you want Terri Dailies to be pro-life forum, as long as you leave her name somewhere or do a new collage with Terri, infants, seniors, the disabled, veterans, everyone who's at risk from the culture of death in a new collage JPEG. Maybe one of our talented graphic artists could do a new collage of people for your banner. I'm not that graphic artist. I don't have Lexmark any more. Can't do much with my current software.

Pro-Life News by Wagglebee(somethin' like that or put the Foundation in your tag line forever.

Pls help Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation www.terrisfight.org.

[wagglebee]

The more I think about it the more I think that everything should just be left the way it is. All I was going to do was pit “Pro-Life Caucus” at the end of the title of the monthly (or semi-monthly) Terrie Dailies thread.

[floriduh voter]

Okay. I just sent you a graphic idea. I liked it but I also like Terri Dailies cuz lots already know that includes all pro-life issues. The trolls always find you.

[wagglebee]

Few things are more repulsive than this.

Thread by julieee.

Planned Parenthood Used Underage Girls in 10 Clinical Trials Pushing Abortion

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com)-- A new report from a Planned Parenthood watchdog group finds the abortion business used underage girls in at least 10 clinical trials over the last two decades to push abortion, birth control, and STD testing.

The news comes at a time when Planned Parenthood is facing criticism for videos showing it ignoring potential statutory abuse cases. . .

[wagglebee]

This is one of the very best commentaries on abortion that I have read in a long time.

Thread by rhema.

Planned parenthood: There are more reasons than fear why children don't come out to play

Remember when we used to jump on our bikes with a sack lunch, take off on a summer morning and not come back until suppertime? And nobody worried. Mom said, "Be careful"; Dad was at work; siblings were otherwise occupied or along for the ride. What did we do all that time? Nothing special, which turned out to be very special.

When we speak of our childhood we don't mean babyhood or toddlerhood or the first day of school. We mean that burst of mobility after the training wheels came off the bike (or in my case, after my sister gave me a push to get me started but neglected to tell me how to stop). The speed! The rush of wind in your face! The thrill, the terror, and finally (after a few bad spills), the sense of control; of knowing just how tight you could take a corner and not crash. That's classic childhood, between the ages of, roughly, 7 and 13, that passes so quickly and lingers forever in perpetual summer. . .

Chabon makes an interesting comparison: "As the national feeling of guilt over the extermination of the Indians led to the creation of a kind of cult of the Indian, so our children have become cult objects to us, too precious to be risked." Children are not being "exterminated" except by abortion, but he shuffles the guilty feelings to other causes, even, ironically, overpopulation!

He may have touched the truth without realizing it. Once one accepts that a pre-born human has no inherent right to exist—that is, no rights an adult is bound to respect, that human is objectified. Rather than an independent person who must have freedom to grow and develop on individual terms, he becomes a project or an experience or a self-improvement program to be taken on when all conditions are right. One who will not grant the precariousness of life to an unexpected fetus may be less inclined to grant that precariousness to a 5-year-old on a tricycle. Someone who's so into control may find it hard to stop controlling.

Chabon tells of the thrill his own daughter experienced when learning to ride a bike, and the letdown when both realized there was no place he would let her go alone. "Even if I do send [her] out, will there be anyone to play with?"

There are a lot of reasons kids today don't come out to play. But we can't discount the fact that almost one-third of their peers are missing.

[wagglebee]

ONE BILLION BABIES have been slaughtered worldwide in the past century, the Nobel Prize Committee seems to think this promotes peace.

Thread by tcg and me.

President Obama Receives Nobel Peace Prize. War on the Womb Continues

In it’s announcement the committee also said "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future…. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population." In its effusive praise of the President the committee continued with these words "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future… His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

This announcement comes just as the debate concerning the funding of abortion in the current versions of “Health Care Reform” in the United States has roused all of the defenders of the first Human Right,the foundational human right, the “mother” of all rights, the Right to Life, out of various degrees of lethargy. In fact, the opposition to this huge piece of legislation is finding its strongest resistance now coming from the U.S. Catholic Bishops. They have made it clear that they will vigorously oppose this legislation unless it unequivocally EXCLUDES the taking of the lives of innocent children in the womb, and rightly so. . .

______________________________________________________________

Pro-Life Leaders Shocked at Vatican Spokesman "Appreciating" Obama Peace Prize

VATICAN CITY, October 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi has reacted to the Nobel Peace prize being awarded to President Barack Obama saying that the news "was greeted with appreciation at the Vatican in light of the president's demonstrated commitment to promoting peace on an international level and, in particular, in recently promoting nuclear disarmament."

Given President Obama's vigorous support for abortion, pro-life leaders reacted with shock and dismay to the reaction by the Vatican spokesman.

One pro-life leader, who wished to remain anonymous, told LifeSiteNews.com, "If Obama was good on international peace and nuclear disarmament but favored the killing of Jews, its not likely he would get either the Noble Peace Prize or be praised by the Vatican."

Human Life International President Fr. Tom Euteneuer reacted to Lombardi's statement saying, "I really don't know who Fr. Lombardi is speaking for. The pope is not mentioned and I am glad for that." Euteneuer who is currently at a conference in Germany added: "Fr. Lombardi must have forgotten that Pope John Paul II was not granted the Peace Prize in 24 years of peace-making around the world because the leftists on the Nobel Committee obviously don't give this Prize for actual results of peace."

American Life League President Judie Brown called Lombardi's statement "an insult to every practicing Catholic but at a more dramatic level a slap at Mother Teresa… who said 'the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion.'" Brown, a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said that she was "outraged" by Lombardi's statement and called on Pope Benedict XVI "to deal with" Lombardi "once and for all". . .

[wagglebee]

The protection of life should be EVERYONE'S business.

Thread by EternalVigilance.

It Is My Business - TOM SHAW

I have a confession to make. Simply, I have been unworried, untroubled and unconcerned. I was unwilling to take the time to study the subject of life and unenthusiastic about preserving it. Abortion didn’t affect me, so, why should I invest any thought into the debate? Although I did not believe in abortion, I was disposed to allowing the mother to make her own decision … she would have to live with it. In short, it was none of my business.

A few years back, during the process of a sexual assault investigation, I was sent to get evidence at a Planned Parenthood clinic. The alleged victim in the case decided to have an abortion and I was to pick up the aborted fetus and take it to the crime lab for DNA analysis. And to the clinic I went, totally unprepared for what I was to encounter. I told an employee that I was there to retrieve a fetus. I was immediately told that it was not a fetus, rather, it was a “product of conception.” Moments later, I was handed a small, plastic bag. (Another confession: My stomach turned violently and I almost vomited.) I did not see a “product of conception” in that bag, I saw a murdered baby. It’s hard to relate the emotional turmoil that I subsequently went through. I can, and frequently do, deal with dead bodies. But I was totally repulsed by the fact that riding next to me in my patrol car, in a cooler, packed in ice, was an innocent victim who was robbed of the opportunity to live its life.

It is my business. No longer will I allow those who support abortion to dehumanize a baby by calling it a “product of conception.”

It is my business. No longer will I fail to uphold my duty to protect all innocent life.

It is my business. No longer will I violate my oath by not defending the God given right to life.

It is my business. No longer shall I be complacent.

[wagglebee]

40 Days for Life continues to save lives!

Thanks to Faith for all of her work on these threads.

Hospital Counselor Leaves Abortion Unit during 40 Days for Life

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 14 - THESE ARE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO ARE BEING KILLED!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 15 - ABORTION AFFECTS US ALL!

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 16 - COULD YOU MENTOR A YOUNG MOTHER OR FATHER?

40 DAYS FOR LIFE - DAY 17 - A BABY IS NOT A PUNISHMENT!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[wagglebee]

The NYT finally did something right.

Thread by mlizzy.

Behind the Scenes: Picturing Fetal Remains

[There are no graphic images in the article proper. They are accessed through a slide show only.]

The photographs are graphic and detailed, showing the fingers or toes of aborted fetuses whose entire frames are no bigger than a cellphone. Since the mid-1990s, they have appeared all over the country — carried as posters by protesters, handed out with pamphlets or, in some cases, mounted like billboards on the sides of trucks.

Like many others, I often wondered about the source of these images. Who took the pictures? Where did the fetuses come from?

I had a chance to find some answers while reporting in late September on the death of James Pouillon, the anti-abortion protester who was shot and killed in Owosso, Mich. [See Saturday's presentation on the subject in The New York Times.]

[wagglebee]

The macabre becomes reality.

Threads by honestabe010 and me.

Sunstein: Take organs from 'helpless patients'

TEL AVIV – President Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar defended the possibility of removing organs from terminally ill patients without their permission. . .

______________________________________________________________

Wesley J. Smith: Medical-Bioethical Elite Seek License to Kill for Body Organs

Oh-oh: Here they come. For years, organ transplant ethicists and some in the bioethics community have agitated to increase the supply of donated organs. There is nothing wrong with that in the abstract, of course. Increasing the supply would alleviate much human suffering and is devoutly to be wished.

But therein lurks a great danger. Increasing supply is a worthy goal only so long as the organs are obtained ethically. But there is a growing chorus among the medical and bioethical intelligentsia to obtain more organs by harvesting living patients. Yes, some of our most influential voices now seek a license to kill for organs.

They don’t put it that bluntly, of course. Rather—reflecting the spirit of our times—advocates argue that our definition of death should be changed to allow a great pretense that living patients are actually dead, thus permitting organ procurement. . .

[wagglebee]

We've heard them all, but it's always good to be reminded.

Thread by NYer.

"Personally Opposed, But..." Five Pro-Abortion Dodges

In that passage from Orthodoxy so familiar that it is almost now cliché, G. K. Chesterton wrote that there are a thousand angles at which a man may fall but only one at which he stands. By this he argued for the unique, enduring character of orthodox Church doctrine, of the one, true, upstanding strand of Right Teaching. Though the same tired heresies may reappear to contest it -- mutated, renamed, warmed-over -- the old, wild truth remains standing, "reeling but erect."

 

This well-worn lesson takes on a new freshness, I think, when applied to the culture war. The wild truths that inform Christian ethics -- our insistence on a moral universe, on a real human nature with its own teleology, on the transcendent significance of human acts and human relationships -- also reel but remain erect in the face of perennial challenges. We are not gods. Moral truth is something we discover, not invent. From the Garden of Eden to the Supreme Court of the United States, we have fought the same battle under different banners.

 

In what is probably the modern culture battle par excellence, the fight against abortion, we see displayed with perfect clarity the principle of a single upright truth (that directly killing an unborn child is an evil and a crime) being contested by a rotation of errors; taking turns or working in tandem, passing in and out of fashion, each seizing upon the vocabulary, events, and moods of the cultural moment until the next comes along to supplant it.

 

In some cases cultural developments render one of them obsolete. In the years shortly after Roe v. Wade, abortion debates inevitably featured three words the pro-abortion side considered a trump card: "blob of tissue." This factually empty but sound-bite-perfect catchphrase made a great impact with its implication that the fetus was roughly equivalent to a ball of snot. Which put abortion about on par with picking your nose: bad form, a messy affair that ought to be kept private, but nothing to get overly excited about.

 

Of course, advances in the study of human embryology, most notably the window to the womb afforded by the sonogram, all but pulled the teeth from the "blob of tissue" canard. The 1980 film The Silent Scream, an ultrasound depiction of an abortion at eleven weeks, provided a chilling, graphic look at abortion's inner workings. And today, expectant mothers keep pictures of their "blobs of tissue" on the refrigerator. They make copies and stuff them into Christmas cards.

 

So that particular line was no longer viable. But it wouldn't be the last. More would follow, and we who are engaged in the culture have surely heard most of them. However, even for those who have heard them all, I think it can be valuable to gather them up and define them; to identify their originators, exemplars, and champions; to understand their appeal; and to consider how to counter them. Let us now look, then, at five (a nice number, though by no means exhaustive) of history's most insidious pro-abortion arguments. . .

[wagglebee]

Young people know that a third of their generation has been murdered.

Two threads by me.

Hundreds of Thousands of Pro-Life Students to Stand in Solidarity on Abortion

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Hundreds of thousands of pro-life students are ready to stand in solidarity on abortion as the Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity takes place a week from Tuesday. Last year, from over 4,700 campuses in 25 countries participated in the event and sponsors expect even more this year.

The day sees the students at middle and high schools and on college campuses wear pro-life t-shirts, sport red tape on their mouths to show how the unborn can't speak up, and the distribution of fliers educating students and the public about abortion.

The event's man sponsor, Stand True Ministries, tells LifeNews.com, one of several groups supporting the event, that at least 58 young women canceled appointments for abortions after the special day took place last year.

Bryan Kemper, the pro-life group's president, says students are always excited every year to bring attention to the devastating travesty of abortion that is killing 4,000 unborn children and injuring women every day.

"The students are speaking loud and clear; they want an end to legalized child-killing," he said of the students and young adults involved in the effort. "We are getting thousands of e-mails, comments and Internet messages from students thanking us for giving them a peaceful way to stand up and be counted."

The students themselves notice the profound effect the event has each time.

"I got one girl to not get an abortion because I took a zero in class for this and she started crying," one student wrote. "She pulled me into the bathroom and told me she was pregnant and was going to have an abortion and she said because of how much this meant to me she didn't! We both sat in the bathroom and cried for a few minutes and she put the baby up for adoption!"

Another student talked about a friend's reaction.

"She's about a month or so pregnant. I have her for a couple of my classes. She kept glancing at my shirt all day and she took a flier. But she didn't say anything," the student related about last year's event.

"Then today in 6th I was getting up and she came up to me. And in front of the whole classroom she began weeping and fell into my arms. She said she didn't want to have an abortion anymore," the student said. . .

______________________________________________________________

Pennsylvania School Targets Student With "Abortion is Not Health Care" T-Shirt

Scranton, PA (LifeNews.com) -- Officials at a Pennsylvania school targeted a middle school student who came to class wearing a pro-life t-shirt with the message, "Abortion is Not Health Care." Officials at Crossroads Middle School in Lewisberry ordered the student to remove the shirt on the day of President Obama’s public address to students.

School officials deemed the shirt “inappropriate,” saying it might insult somebody -- even though the school routinely allows students to wear other shirts with other potentially offensive messages. . .