Free Republic

Jeb Bush will present Hillary Clinton with the 2013 Liberty Medal this fall in Philadelphia. It could be an awkward encounter for the two, both of whom are mentioned as 2016 presidential nominees for their respective parties. Bush, the former Republican governor of Florida, is chairman of the National Constitution Center, which is giving Clinton the award in honor of her career in public service and her advocacy efforts on behalf of women. The former secretary of State is considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in the next presidential election, but has made no political moves since leaving the...

In an exclusive sit-down interview with The Brody File, Jeb Bush began to sketch out his case for President of the United States if he decides to run next year. “It will be based on my record. And that record was one of solving problems from completely from a conservative perspective. I cut taxes every year, I shrunk the size of government,” Jeb Bush tells The Brody File. And as for his critics who say he’s too mainstream establishment he offers this: “I will be able to, I think, manage my way through all the chirpers out there.” We sat...

On Friday night in Philadelphia, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin keynoted an event designed to honor Terri Schiavo and defend life, delivering a heartfelt speech at the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network's Award Gala in front of a packed ballroom of supporters in which she declared that nothing was more "important than defending the right to life." The former Republican vice presidential nominee has been on the front lines defending the unborn as well as those in a persistent vegetative state. Terri Schiavo's case captured the nation's attention in 2005 when, despite the best efforts of her family, she...

Friday night in Philadelphia, Governor Sarah Palin proved what we already expected. She was the perfect choice to keynote an event designed to honor Terri Schiavo and defend life. Palin delivered a heartfelt speech at the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network’s Award Gala in front of a packed ballroom of supporters. “Her plight, her journey, taught Americans who we are and what we can be,” Palin said speaking about Schiavo. “Her story is certainly not over.” Governor Palin referred to Schiavo as a beautiful young woman with unquenchable spirit. She assured the crowd that Terri continues to teach with...

Governor Sarah Palin will headline a dinner recalling the life and painful euthanasia death of Terri Schiavo, who was subjected to two weeks of starvation and dehydration by a husband who no longer wanted to care of her. Though the events surrounding her death were very difficult for Terri and her family, the foundation that bears her name is turning a negative into a positive. The national controversy that erupted over the court-ordered decision that ended Terri Schiavo’s life by removing her feeding tube in 2005 has been channeled into a positive effort of awareness, education and advocacy through the...

REMEMBRANCE of EASTER 2005 Crowd my eyes, you bevies of daffodils, And you forsythias in throngs of cheer, Dandelion galaxies and fountains of trees. Fill my mouth with the breath of hyacinths, you purple air And you roistering breeze. And you quince-buds so eager, you swelling seeds, You squirrels running stitches across the loom Of woven grasses, inflorescent weeds; Jasmine-bush, loop me with your lariats of perfume. Fill me, small birds, with your versicles, And chuckled replies. She is bleeding from the mouth and eyes. Sate me then, Sun, all dapple and spangle Crowd out all else Lade me and...

For members of any family, an order of execution issued by a judge for a loved one is devastating news – it’s catastrophic to learn that someone you have known all your life is going to be killed by the state. That’s what happened to my family when, on March 31, 2005, Terri Schiavo died as a result of Florida probate judge George W. Greer’s ruling to sentence my sister to death. Her crime? She was profoundly brain injured, could not speak or fend for herself and had a loving family that wanted, more than anything, to just bring her...

Terri Schiavo Dies After Enduring 13 Day Court-Ordered Starvation by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor March 31, 2005 Pinellas Park, FL (LifeNews.com) — Terri Schiavo has passed away after enduring 13 days of a painful starvation and dehydration death that six state and federal courts declined to prevent. While her family will remember a loving daughter and sister, her death will be the beginning of a renewed debate about euthanasia and end of life issues. Terri died Thursday morning at Woodside Hospice, and Paul O’Donnell, a Franciscan monk who has been a spokesman for the Schindlers during the last two weeks,...

The court-ordered starvation and dehydration death of Terri Schindler Schiavo eight years ago marked a watershed moment in our nation’s history. Millions of people both here and around the world became suddenly faced the reality that our society is not only willing, but seemingly eager, to treat those with disabilities as if they are expendable. Among the many commentaries and reflections published in the wake of Terri’s death was a series of analyses in the pro-life publication Human Life Review. Yesterday we began discussing one of those articles written by columnist Nat Hentoff. In it, Nat wrote about society’s progression...

Nat Hentoff is no stranger to the pro-life movement and his defense of life in the face of overwhelming opposition is noteworthy. For many, many years, Nat was a columnist for the New York City paper, The Village Voice — a paper so liberal that the New York Times almost appears mainstream in comparison. Nestled away in its pages, however, was columnist Nat Hentoff. Nat’s advocacy for life knows no boundaries. Shortly after the death of Terri Schindler Schiavo, the pro-life quarterly journal, Human Life Review, ran a series of articles analyzing the impact of Terri’s tragic death. Among the...

As Holy Week begins and we reflect on the passion of Jesus Christ, it is especially appropriate to remember another person who eight years ago at this time was subjected to a tortuous, brutal and heinous death – one whose anniversary falls this year on Easter Sunday: Terri Schindler-Schiavo. And just as the Church now ushers in our new Pope Francis, I am reminded how two days after Terri’s death we also lost our Holy Father. As Pope John Paul II lay dying at the Vatican his aides would later tell the Schindlers that when he learned of Terri’s death,...

As Holy Week begins and we reflect on the passion of Jesus Christ, it is especially appropriate to remember another person who eight years ago at this time was subjected to a tortuous, brutal and heinous death – one whose anniversary falls this year on Easter Sunday: Terri Schindler-Schiavo. And just as the Church now ushers in our new Pope Francis, I am reminded how two days after Terri’s death we also lost our Holy Father. As Pope John Paul II lay dying at the Vatican his aides would later tell the Schindlers that when he learned of Terri’s death,...

by Cathy Cleaver Ruse March 24, 2005 LifeNews.com Note: Cathy Cleaver Ruse, Esq., is the Director of Planning and Information for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. The following editorial originally appeared in Newsday. TERRI SCHIAVO is at the heart of a human tragedy being played out in our nation, and watched by the world. Her husband wants to remove her feeding tube, saying this is her wish, while her parents and siblings vigorously disagree that she would have wanted to die. Since last Friday, Schiavo has faced each new day without food or water, by...

The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network is delighted to announce that Moe & Sana Maraachli will receive the 2013 Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Award at the first Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Award Gala on Friday, April 5, in Philadelphia. In 2011, an international controversy erupted over Joseph Maraachli (Baby Joseph) after Canadian physicians refused to perform a tracheotomy, calling the procedure invasive and futile. This would have ultimately led to Joseph’s imposed death. The Maraachlis courageously fought to have Joseph, who was diagnosed with a neurologic disorder called Leigh’s disease, transferred to the United States, contending...

Sick children are being discharged from NHS hospitals to die at home or in hospices on controversial ‘death pathways’. Until now, end of life regime the Liverpool Care Pathway was thought to have involved only elderly and terminally-ill adults. But the Mail can reveal the practice of withdrawing food and fluid by tube is being used on young patients as well as severely disabled newborn babies.

Dehydrate dementia patients to death to save money: British Medical Journal editorial by Hilary White, Rome CorrespondentMon Jul 16, 2012 15:38 EST July 16, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The courts should not interfere with doctors who want to dehydrate to death incapacitated patients who are a drain on scarce financial resources, according to an editorial in this week’s edition of the prestigious British Medical Journal. Raanan Gillon, emeritus professor of medical ethics and former chairman of the Institute of Medical Ethics governing body, wrote that a ruling last year by the High Court against dehydrating an incapacitated patient to death was...

What would it be like to starve to death in silence? Can you imagine dying of thirst, but not being able to ask for a glass of water? Student and aspiring filmmaker Adam Hardy, 22, puts his viewers in the shoes of a woman in just that situation.Based on the true story of Terri Schiavo and others like her, Hungry reminds us of the discrimination that people with disabilities face and the sanctity of all human life. Since Live Action is a youth-led movement dedicated to building a culture of life, we love sharing what other young people are doing to communicate life-affirming...

April 11, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - If an American bioethicist gets her way, all patients evaluated as being in a “permanent vegetative state” (PVS) would by default have artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) withdrawn unless they have made a prior wish to be kept alive. In the March 2012 issue of Bioethics, Dr. Catherine Constable argues that “in the absence of clear evidence that the patient would opt for this existence over death, keeping him alive by any means of assistance is ethically more problematic than allowing him to die.” Terri Schiavo was declared to be in a PVS state and...

We must never forget Terri and the premature, unthinkable death she endured. Last March 31st was the seventh anniversary of my sister, Terri Schiavo’s death. Terri was starved and dehydrated to death by those who value killing the innocent ahead of preserving life, and who put God second to the powers of a corrupt legal and government system—or leave Him out of the equation, entirely. Terri never wanted to die, and in fact told us just the opposite—that she wanted to live. As we look back on all she endured, we realize that Terri did not die in vain. For...

AVE MARIA, FL, April 2, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The 7th anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo was commemorated by a Mass at the Ave Maria Oratory at Ave Maria University Friday evening. Terri’s remaining family - her mother Mary Schindler, brother Bobby and sister Suzanne - were all in attendance, along with pro-life leaders and activists from across North America. Homilist Fr. Denis Wilde, Associate Director of Priests for Life, vividly recalled the “crisis period that gripped our nation leading up to the final week of March 2005 in Pinellas Park.” It involved, he recalled, “day and night media,...

Lately, Americans have been quick to disparage other countries for their approach to life and death issues. In particular, many Americans have been outraged at the Netherlands’ policies regarding euthanasia, assisted suicide, infanticide and the killing of those with mental illnesses. As Americans, we haven’t been entirely intellectually honest in addressing why these things have become so prevalent in Europe. After all, we would never allow that kind of immorality or degradation of human life. Not in this great nation. Right? Wrong. Americans had better look again and take the time to rethink their value systems. Because if you honestly...

New York, NY -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, who became known as the "Terri Schiavo Priest" because of his involvement in the case back in 2005, issued the following statement in preparation for the seventh anniversary of her death on March 31: "None of us who were in Terri's room during her final weeks and hours will ever forget the intense spiritual and emotional impact of that experience. Terri's death was not a dignified, peaceful, beautiful event, like the proponents of euthanasia want to paint it. Instead, it was violent, ugly, and offensive to the...

The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network has announced that Ave Maria University will once again host “The National Mass for Terri’s Day” at the Ave Maria Oratory at Ave Maria University, located near Naples, Florida. Terri was killed on March 31, 2005 when her former husband won a protracted legal battle against the Schindler family for the right to disconnect her feeding tube. Doctors who examined Terri say she was not in a persistent vegetative state and that her condition could have been improved has she been given access to more medical care and rehabilitative treatment. The International Day...

An American doctor argues in the latest issue of the leading journal Bioethics that artificial nutrition and hydration should be withdrawn from all patients in a permanent vegetative state – unless there is clear evidence that they want to be kept alive. Dr Catherine Constable, of New York University School of Medicine, studied bioethics at the Ethox Centre at Oxford University. She argues that the current presumption in favour of maintaining ANH is misguided. It is not in the interests of the patient nor, because of its cost, in the interest of society.However, her argument is not based upon cost,...

Yesterday, I bemoaned the latest historical revisionism about the passage of the federal law to protect Terri Schiavo. I am so sick of the pretense that it was a Republican theocratic game–when in reality, it was a very bipartisan bill choreographed through passage by the leaders of both parties–that I decided to become an accurate history writer. From “Obama and Santorum Agreed on Terri Schiavo Law” in the Daily Caller: Newt Gingrich likes to write “alternate history” novels, such as “Gettysburg,” in which the South wins the epochal battle that in the real world saved the Union. Such fantasies are...

Only two days after admitting that Barack Obama has a problem with his "frightening" birth control decision, Chris Matthews on Thursday was back on offense. He berated Rick Santorum as a "theocrat" and knocked Reverend Franklin Graham as a "disgrace." The Hardball host singled out Family Research Council President Tony Perkins as the representative of all those who would question Obama's faith. Matthews interrogated, "Tony, do you think this president is a Muslim?" He added, "Why [do] your people" make such allegations? An exasperated Perkins replied, "no" and shot back, "My people?...The things that we have said have always been...

The Disclaimer: If you do not believe in God, then this post will be meaningless gibberish in your mind. The Premise: Our relationship with God has always been centered upon the concept of Freedom of Choice. We are free to choose from all manner of things both good and evil, but God also chooses. The Facts: Terri Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged young woman, teeters on the edge of death. She is being killed by withholding food and water, a judgement decreed upon her by the people of the United States. The highest courts of the land have approved her death,...

Brother testifies in favor of “Terri Schiavo Day” by Matt Lacy – Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo testified on Tuesday in support of a New Hampshire bill proclaiming March 31 of each year as a day to remember Terri Schiavo. Schiavo, who spent 15 years on a feeding tube, became a focal point over the right to die issue and highlighted the need for individuals to have a living will specifying their wishes.. On February 25, 1990 Schiavo collapsed while at home. After being admitted to the hospital, doctors were unable to determine an exact cause of...

Detroit — Seven years ago, Bobby Schindler’s life changed as he watched his sister fight for hers. Terri Schiavo had suffered severe brain damage several years earlier after entering cardiac arrest in her St. Petersburg, Fla., home, but that wasn’t what was threatening to take her life. According to her brother, the hospitals, courts, state and Schiavo’s husband posed a far greater risk. And on March 18, 2005, Schindler and his parents could only watch helplessly and desperately as Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube, on which she depended for sustenance, was removed. Thirteen days later, she died a slow death of...

There's no doubt some Republicans remain unhappy with the GOP presidential field. They wish other candidates -- Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush -- had entered a long time ago. But the Iowa caucuses are in two weeks. Is there any chance, at this late date, that something could change? All the alternative candidates have repeatedly said they won't run. But there is new speculation focusing on Bush after the former Florida governor turned heads Monday morning when he wrote, in the Wall Street Journal, a campaign-like economic manifesto headlined "Capitalism and the Right to Rise."

Terri Schiavo of Florida, who's vegetative state and right to life became a national issue in 2005 The difference between a dead man and a man in a vegetative state used to be a thin line of whether or not the body was still functioning. But what if the vegetative man is still conscious? That brings the distinction into a whole new level.Philosopher Walter Sinnott-Armstrong gave a talk titled “Is he conscious? Does he want to be?” at the Trent Center for Bioethics on Friday, Dec. 9. He discussed clinical studies which have shown that despite the unresponsive display, patients...

TAMPA — The servants of the Lord wore red as always, and the servants of the law wore pinstripes. But the annual Red Mass for Tampa's legal community struck a new chord of civil disobedience. Bishop Robert Lynch, leader of nearly a half-million Tampa Bay Catholics, surprised two dozen judges and 300 lawyers Wednesday by promising to thwart the federal health care law. It was a departure from his traditional homilies on the virtues of judicial wisdom. If draft regulations aren't changed, Lynch said, the Diocese of St. Petersburg will no longer provide health insurance for its 2,300 employees. Instead,...

A neurosurgeon, vetted by Levin's staff, calls Mark and talks about what he knows about Obamacare Death Panels. From 11/22/11

NEW YORK, November 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A study published in one of the most respected medical journals in the world this month has found that many “vegetative” patients are in fact fully conscious and aware. Experts at the University of Western Ontario conducted the experiment by applying an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine, a common mechanism for measuring brain waves, to a large group of unresponsive patients suffering from brain injuries. The New York Times reported that, when researchers asked “vegetative” patients to imagine squeezing their hand into a fist or wiggling their toes on cue, they found the brain waves...

Late last night the prestigious British medical journal “The Lancet” published a very important study online that further demonstrated that patients diagnosed to be in a persistent vegetative state have either often been misdiagnosed or are sometimes consciously aware even if they are in a PVS. Several of you wrote back in response to our analysis (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/11/lancet-study-provides-more-evidence-that-patients-in-so-called-%E2%80%9Cpersistent-vegetative-state%E2%80%9D-may-be-consciously-aware) which is one important reason for this follow-up. I spent about an hour and a half today reading how media outlets covered the conclusions drawn by “Bedside detection of awareness in the vegetative state: a cohort study.” The New York Times’ two lead paragraphs are absolutely...

  “You’ll Swing for This!” Thoughts on the Execution of Troy Davis David C. Stolinsky Sept. 26, 2011 On Sept. 21, Georgia executed convicted murderer Troy Davis by lethal injection. Twenty-two years ago, Davis murdered police officer Mark MacPhail. After shooting Officer MacPhail, Davis stood over him and shot him again. Predictably, MacPhail’s name was mentioned much less often than the murderer’s name, and there were demonstrations for the murderer but none for MacPhail. For details read Ann Coulter, who is an attorney and − unlike other commentators − actually reviewed the transcript. If opponents of capital punishment claim...

More than three years ago, readers on this site received fair warning that Father Frank Pavone was cruising toward a showdown with officials in the Diocese of Amarillo. Read the comment by Diogenes from August 2008, and you will find the simmering conflict neatly summarized, many months before it boiled over into full public view. Diogenes concluded his analysis this way: The question isn't whether or not the Church will support pro-life work. The question is whether priests and religious, when they engage in pro-life work, remain subject to ecclesiastical discipline. The answer, by the way, is Yes. You can...

Country music singer Collin Raye to be a new voice for the cognitively impaired and those at risk of euthanasia Contact: Kristina Hernandez, 703-373-0632, khernandez@crcpublicrelations.comST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Sept. 14, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Terri Schiavo's Life & Hope Network, a foundation created by her parents and siblings following her death by starvation in 2005, announced today that country music star Collin Raye will serve as their national spokesperson."I am truly honored and humbled to be representing those who have no voice and appreciate the opportunity to help families and loved ones who are in similar situations like those of Terri...

I watched an old woman die of hunger and thirst.  She had Alzheimer’s, this old woman, and was child-like, trusting, vulnerable, with a child’s delight at treats of chocolate and ice cream, and a child’s fear and frustration when tired or ill.I watched her die for six days and nights.I watched her suffer, and I listened to the medical practitioners, to a son who legally decided her fate, and to an eldest daughter who advised him and told me that the old woman, my mother, was “comfortable,” except when she was “in distress,” at which times the nurses medicated her...

LifeNews.com Note:  Bobby Schindler is the brother of Terri Schiavo and he and his family now work for Terri’s Life & Hope Network to help disabled and incapacitated patients like her. The anniversary of the death of his father, Robert Schindler, was earlier this week. The passing of both Terri and my father is what helps inspire my family and the work we do at Terri’s Life & Hope Network to continue fighting for our most vulnerable every day.My father was a man of incredible strength, and loved his family so much that he essentially gave up his life...

Julia Gross with her mother Estelle. LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, August 22, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A recently retired New York Times reporter has penned a book in which she details how she followed through on a shocking pact to help her 88-year-old mother, Estelle, starve to death. In an excerpt from the book, “A Bittersweet Season,� published recently in the Daily Mail, Jane Gross describes her mother’s increasing dissatisfaction with life as her health deteriorated, and her mounting desire to die, despite the fact that she was not terminally ill. “So here we were, my mother and I, wishing that she...

he death of Terri Schindler Schiavo in 2005 is a distant memory for most Americans. But for the family that spent seven years fighting Terri's estranged husband and the court system to stop the starvation of their daughter and sister, recollections of the 13 days Terri lingered without food or water before finally succumbing to death remain vivid and painful. And the knowledge that other brain-damaged patients could suffer a similar fate has propelled this once-ordinary family into around-the-clock activism. "It was almost like there really wasn't an option," said Terri's sister, Suzanne Schindler-Vitadamo, when I interviewed her last weekend...

On Saturday the Daily Mail ran a poll with the question, “Should ‘minimally conscious’ patients be allowed to die? As of this writing (on Saturday), 29% said No, 71% said yes. I have to wonder though, if the people who clicked Yes had given much thought to the form of the question. Something I learned as a lobbyist paying close attention to various pieces of legislation is to always look very closely indeed at the pages of the bill that give the definitions of terms. What does it mean to be “allowed to die”? And what, exactly, are we talking...

July 11, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After years of opposition from disability advocates, more experts are beginning to question the validity of the “persistent vegetative state� (PVS) diagnostic label that paved the way for Terri Schiavo’s starvation death. A Discover magazine article published online July 6 explained that PVS often fails to account for a broad swath of traumatic brain injury patients who are deemed to be “still in there� - a conclusion one science reporter called “haunting.� Discover’s Kat McGowan examined the outcome of years of experiments by Dr. Joseph Giancino, director of rehabilitation neuropsychology at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital,...

ST. PETERSBURG, June 3 / -- Today marks the end of Jack Kevorkian’s reign of terror over vulnerable and needy patients. For decades Jack Kevorkian spent his life advocating for assisted suicide, helping dozens of mostly non-terminal persons kill themselves. “It was clear that this man had a dysfunctional obsession and infatuation with death and that his true involvement in these deaths was never properly reported,” stated Terri Schiavo’s Life and Hope Network’s Executive Director, Bobby Schindler. In an October 2010 MSNBC interview with Jack Kevorkian, he was asked to weigh in on Terri Schiavo’s two-week court ordered dehydration death....

Doctors are prescribing drinking water for neglected elderly patients to stop them dying of thirst in hospital. The measure – to remind nurses of the most basic necessity – is revealed in a damning report on pensioner care in NHS wards. Some trusts are neglecting the elderly on such a fundamental level their wards could face closure orders. The snapshot study, triggered by a Mail campaign, found staff routinely ignored patients’ calls for help and forgot to check that they had had enough to eat and drink.

Terri Schiavo was subjected to a painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death by her former husband who refused to provide her with proper medical care and rehabilitative treatment.Not wanting to see other patients endure the same ordeal, the foundation Terri’s family started to help disabled people receive proper care announced today it is supporting the New Beginnings Community Center of Medford, New York that will help people in similar situations.The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network told LifeNews that New Beginnings is a state-of-the-art outpatient rehabilitative facility for Veteran’s, Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors and other cognitively and physically disabled persons....

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Grand Junction proclaimed Monday as National Health Care Decisions Day, urging all citizens to make their health care wishes known through advance care planning for managing a serious illness, or end-of-life care. Living wills and advance directives are documents that spell out your wishes if you should become incapacitated due to a medical crisis. Millions of people began filling out living wills and advance directives after the 1976 Supreme Court case of Karen Ann Quinlan, whose parents battled with hospital staff who sought to keep Quinlan alive through artificial means, even though she had lapsed into...

AVE MARIA, Florida, March 31, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On March 31, 2005, a Florida woman who was at the center of an intense nationwide controversy took her last breath, after thirteen days without food or water. A bouquet of flowers sat in a vase of water next to the bed where Terri Schiavo lay, forbidden under court order from receiving the water she needed to sustain her life. Six years later, Terri’s family reverently recalled their loved one’s struggle to live, a struggle that became a measure of America’s conscience after attempts to overrule husband Michael Schiavo’s decision to...

I recently read an article in the London Free Press (March 22nd) about the highly publicized Joseph Maraachli situation titled, Baby Joseph Case Becomes Political Issue in U.S. As the Executive Director the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, I was personally involved in helping Baby Joseph’s parents keep control of the medical treatment decisions that were being made for their son.Joseph was diagnosed with a brain condition that doctors believe will eventually cause his untimely death. Joseph's parents, Moe and Sana, understood that their son’s case was terminal. Their only request was for a simple procedure to be performed that...