At 11:48 PM 10/14/03 -0500, The Fool wrote:
<<http://web.morons.org/article.jsp?sectionid=1&id=4062>>
Abortion foes try to block brain-dead woman's final wish.
Posted by angry Frankie on Oct. 13, 2003 (159 comments from readers) Not content with forcing women to carry pregnancies to term, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry also wants to force clinically brain-dead women to live on in a vegetative state.
Check it out:
Terri Schiavo is clinically brain-dead, after a heart attack more than ten years ago.
Although there have been some questions raised about whether her condition was caused by a naturally-occurring MI or whether there might have been another, not-so-natural, proximate cause of her condition.
Doctors state she can and will never recover. Her husband has said that she did not want to be left on life support.
Except that no one else has reported hearing her express such wishes.
The courts agree with him, and have repeatedly ordered that her wishes be carried out. Her feeding tube is scheduled to be removed at 2pm (Florida time) this coming Wednesday.
Assuming that the ones who say she is completely brain-dead are incorrect, does anyone want to think how much fun it will be to slowly starve to death over the next two weeks or so while unable to move or speak? Is anyone who thinks this is the "merciful" or "right" thing to do willing to be strapped down and gagged and left to die of hunger or thirst?
In spite of all this, her maiden family, the Schindlers, have been attempting to keep Terri hooked up on life support. And Randall Terry, who founded "Operation Rescue", is organizing their protests.
I could make smart remarks about Randall Terry having gotten involved,
I don't see anything odd about his involvement. From his point of view, both this case and the stopping of abortion are about saving the lives of helpless persons who are unable to protect themselves. Whether or not one agrees that either Mrs. Schiavo or an unborn baby is "alive" in the same sense that you and I and Mr. Terry are, his actions are consistent with his stated beliefs.
but I'll leave that up to the readers' comments. I will instead say that I understand all too well the grief that drives the Schindlers to this. And because I understand, the Schindlers' actions disgust me that much more. I could never keep a brain-dead relative alive against his or her wishes just to ease my own grief. That would be the height of selfish arrogance. It's better to mourn with a clear conscience.
No, that's too reasonable for the Schindlers, or for Randall Terry. Instead, they're vilifying Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, claiming he abused her and purposefully withheld treatment from her. I guess there's no better way to deal with grief than by slandering someone who's also busy grieving.
Is Mr. Schaivo's honey by which he has had children while his legal wife is still lying in the hospital also grieving?
The Schindlers and Mr. Terry are also picketing the hospice taking care of Terri Schiavo, carrying signs. Allegedly, one of the signs says, "Is this hospice or Auschwitz?" Don't that beat all? Comparing their family's legal fight to the Holocaust? As if their actions weren't outrageous enough already.
Fortunately for the Schiavos, the Schindlers have used up almost all of their legal options. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has already refused to give them a hearing. Hopefully, Terri Schiavo will soon be granted the dignified death she wanted from the start.
-- Ronn! :)
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