Terri Schiavo's Brother Wants to Talk With GOP Candidates About Her

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With Fred Thompson becoming the latest Republican presidential candidate to say that the federal and state government shouldn't have been involved in trying to save Terri Schiavo's life, her brother says he wants to talk with the GOP hopefuls.

He says they would be more likely to support the actions Congress and the Florida legislature took to try to help his family prevent her former husband from subjecting her to a painful euthanasia death if they knew more about her case.

"I want to personally talk with them about Terri's case," Bobby Schindler told the Boston Globe. "They need to be fully informed. There obviously exists a lot of confusion about my sister's situation."

Schindler told the newspaper that he plans to write each candidate a letter about Terri's circumstances and the painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death her former husband Michael made her endure.

He says Terri's case was not an end-of-life one because she wasn't dying and that his family took their lawsuit to federal courts because state courts had mandated that she be killed.

Thompson responded to questions about Terri Schiavo on Monday and said he didn't think that government should intervene in cases like hers. He says government should stay out and let families decide.

“It should be decided by the families — the federal government and the state government too, except for the court system, ought to stay out of those matters as far as I am concerned," he said.

One leading pro-life advocate who spoke with LifeNews.com about the comments on the condition of anonymity said the media is making too much of Thompson's comments in an attempt to show a divide between him and the pro-life movement or the Schindler family.

The pro-life leader said Thompson's view that government shouldn't make end-of-life decisions fits into the pro-life perspective but that government had to intervene in Terri's case because her family was split over her care.

However the pro-life community views Thompsons' remarks, the Schindler family has found a reason to be disappointed with the comments most of the candidates have had on the case.

The family endorsed pro-life Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, but he dropped out of the race last week.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has come under fire for his comments, as have ex-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain of Arizona.

Even former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who is considered one of the better candidates left in the race from the pro-life perspective, told the St. Petersburg Times earlier this year, "I wasn't sure how the federal government had a role in all that."

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