Posted on 02/27/2009 5:47:09 AM PST by BykrBayb
DOCUMENTARY REVEALS NEW DETAILS IN TERRI SCHIAVO CASE
By Gina Adams
Story Published: Feb 25, 2009 at 5:31 PM CST
Story Updated: Feb 25, 2009 at 5:34 PM CST
The story of Terri Schiavo caused a nationwide uproar that garnered the attention of the worldwide media, the U.S. Congress, and even the office of the President of the United States.
The ethical and cultural implications of her case are still being felt throughout society and continue to spark debate.
In the newly-released documentary, The Terri Schiavo Story (Franklin Springs Family Media), previously unexplored facts of the case are revealed through in-depth interviews with participants on both sides of the issue.
Hosted by author and speaker Joni Eareckson Tada, who became personally involved in the case in 2005, The Terri Schiavo Story sheds new light on the controversial decision that led to the death of a 41-year-old disabled woman.
In 1990, at the age of 26, Terri Schindler Schiavo suffered a mysterious cardio-respiratory arrest for which no cause has ever been determined.
She was diagnosed with hypoxic encephalopathy - a neurological injury caused by lack of oxygen to the brain. Terri was placed on a ventilator, but was soon able to breathe on her own and maintain vital function.
She remained in a severely compromised neurological state and was provided a PEG tube to ensure the safe delivery of nourishment and hydration.
On March 31, 2005, Terri Schindler Schiavo died of marked dehydration following more than 13 days without nutrition or hydration under the order of Circuit Court Judge, George W. Greer of the Pinellas-Pasco's Sixth Judicial Court.
Veteran producer and director Ken Carpenter felt the story deserved to be re-told, but he did not anticipate the amount of new information that would come to light.
"Working on this project made clear to me that we need to keep Terri's story alive. Our children need to know the lines were drawn when our government and court system let Terri die. Knowing the full story - not just what we heard in the media - equips us to address new challenges to our faith."
Joni Eareckson Tada, herself disabled after a diving accident which left her a quadriplegic in a wheelchair and unable to use her hands, says what happened to Terri continues to affect disabled citizens.
"The story remains relevant because there are countless people like Terri Schiavo whose lives are in grave danger because of unclear custody and guardianship laws," says Tada. "Plus, more states (under futile care policy directives) are quietly removing the feeding tubes from brain-injured people when families abandon their responsibilities. Feeding tubes are providing basic care, not medical treatment."
Terri's brother, Bobby Schindler, was interviewed at length in the documentary and is now involved in helping families in similar circumstances through The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation.
Schindler believes the truth about his sister's death has been distorted and hidden - until now.
"Our hope is that people will learn the truth about what happened to Terri," says Schindler, "and realize the atrocity that it was and that anyone who claims that her death was 'peaceful' and 'painless' is lying. It is because of the truly inhumane nature of death by dehydration that when people are killed this way it is always done behind closed doors in the strictest secrecy. I wholeheartedly believe that if the public had been allowed to witness Terri's suffering first hand, the outcry would have deafened Florida and the world."
Tada was on the front lines with Terri's family in 2005, helping lead the protests that eventually landed in the halls of the U.S. Congress. "I hope that people understand that Terri Schiavo's story is really our story," says Tada.
"We have a special obligation to protect the weak and vulnerable in our society. We have a responsibility to uphold their human dignity -- because we are of equal dignity, we are not at each other's disposal. The weak and the vulnerable need their rights safeguarded and protected... we must not allow them to become eroded. For when we do, we are jeopardizing the rights of us all."
Originally produced as an episode for the Joni & Friends television series, Franklin Springs Family Media felt the story was compelling enough to produce as a stand-alone project.
Their decision was recently justified when The Terri Schiavo Story won the Jubliee Award for Best Documentary at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.
Franklin Springs Family Media founder Ken Carpenter believes the documentary should be seen by every church and organization that cares about policies related to the disabled and pro-life issues.
"I hope this film helps us see that our understanding of complex situations such as Terri's should not be rooted in popular opinion, but in biblical standards."
Carpenter took home the Dove Award for Long Form Video in 2007 for Amy Grant's Time Again, and in 2006 for Mark Schultz' A Night of Story and Songs.
Carpenter also recently produced and directed the latest John Tesh television special - John Tesh Alive.
Through his Franklin Films production company, Carpenter has produced projects for many of the leading names in Christian entertainment and ministry, including Michael W. Smith, Compassion International, Steven Curtis Chapman, The Gideons, Jeremy Camp, eHarmony, dcTalk, Integrity Publishers, Mercy Me, Big Idea Productions, Casting Crowns, and many others.
Carpenter launched Franklin Springs Family Media in 2005.
For more information and to view a trailer for the new documentary, click here: www.TheSchiavoStory.com.
For more information on Franklin Springs Family Media,visit: www.FranklinSprings.com.
For more information on The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, visit: www.TerrisFight.org.
For more information on Joni Eareckson Tada, visit: www.JoniandFriends.org.
Thanks to Faith, MountainFlower and Salvation for all of their hard work on these!
And getting it is getting easier every day.
Declaring 'brain death' is the opening of an organ farm in most cases. Transplants make tons of money for the vivisectionists.
Very true.
Thanks for the ping!
bttt
This happens more often than people want to acknowledge. Family members, in control of the lives of others who are no longer able to make a decision because of brain injury, but are not on life support systems, only on feeding tubes for sustanance and hydration, are being killed. Their family member in charge of their care is getting a doctor's order to remove the feeding tube and they suffer a slow, painful death. Why? Perhaps because they see no value in the life before their eyes. Or they are tired of the years they have spent visiting and sitting with that person, now doing so out of obligation, when there is no visible response. They forget that a persons hearing is one of the last senses to go, and they hear what is spoken in their presence. They are caged in a body that no longer functions properly enough to converse, but...they hear! Imagine being trapped and hearing the conversations about how they are going to kill you and being unable to respond. These victims then go through an emotional and physical torture, dying slowly. I know of a 4 week long death sentence like this. All I could do is go home and pray and weep!
Thread by nickcarraway.
Many surprised by event billed as diversity presentation
Alveda King speaks about abortion Tuesday in Warriner
Some students at Alveda King's speech Tuesday night did not expect a strictly literal interpretation of the advertised "life affirming choices" speech.
The niece of Dr. Martin Luther King spoke out strongly against abortion at her "Can the Dream Survive?" presentation in Warriner Hall's Plachta Auditorium. Some students were surprised to learn that was the topic of her lecture. Several of the about 650-person audience walked out.
"I felt a little misled personally," said Flint senior Detrone Turner, who said he thought the speech was going to be about increasing diversity.
Sponsored by The Student Budget Allocation Committee, The Office for Institutional Diversity and Students For Life, King presented a PowerPoint called "Can the Dream Survive If the Kids Are Dead?"
. . .
Threads by GonzoII, Salvation and me.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama signed an executive order Monday repealing a Bush-era policy that limited federal tax dollars for embryonic stem cell research.
Obama's move overturns an order signed by President Bush in 2001 that barred the National Institutes of Health from funding research on embryonic stem cells beyond using 60 cell lines that existed at that time. . .
Salem, OR - March 9, 2009 - “President Obama’s decision to lift the ban on using taxpayer dollars for embryonic stem cell research is deadly for human lives and completely unnecessary”, said Gayle Atteberry, Executive Director of Oregon Right to Life.
“Ten years of research with embryonic stem cells has produced nothing but failure after failure, while research with adult stem cells and reprogrammed cells is finding cures and clinical successes on a regular basis,” Ms. Atteberry continued. . .
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama may win applause from some in the scientific community for his expected decision on Monday to overturn President Bush's limits on embryonic stem cell research funding. But some scientists say the controversial research is no longer the hot prospect for patients.
Bernadine Healy, the former head of the National institutes of Health and the American Red Cross says the remarkable advances of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are beginning to subsume embryonic stem cells.
She wrote in U.S News and World Report that IPSC and adult stem cell research successes have "diminished" the prospect that ESCR is the future of regenerative medicine.
"Even for strong backers of embryonic stem cell research, [Obama's decision] is no longer as self-evident as it was, because there is markedly diminished need for expanding these cell lines for either patient therapy or basic research," Healy explains. . .
Thread by me.
March 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Many Democrats are wise enough to have a healthy fear of FOCA, the Freedom of Choice Act. Those on the religious left who support President Barack Obama are particularly sensitive to the symbolic power of FOCA to undercut their messaging about "abortion reduction." If FOCA were to cause much-beloved Catholic hospitals to begin shutting their doors, the political impact would be devastating.
Thus, it came as no surprise several weeks ago when some of Obama's religious supporters began accusing pro-lifers -- particularly Catholics -- of using FOCA as a scare tactic when it had not yet been introduced into the 111th Congress.
Amy Sullivan, an editor at TIME, wrote an article titled, "The Catholic Attack on a Mythical Abortion Bill," singling out the U.S. Catholic bishops for their national postcard campaign against FOCA. Catholics United was predictably quoted in the story, as they are now in every media story giving pro-abortion Catholics political cover: "These right-wing organizations are deliberately misleading people in order to stoke the culture war."
Sullivan, who wrote a good book about the "God gap" in the Democratic Party, went way out on a limb to defuse FOCA anxiety. "Congress," she wrote, "isn't about to pass the Freedom of Choice Act -- because no such bill has been introduced in the current Congress." True, but as Sullivan surely knows, there are several members of Congress who are itching to reintroduce FOCA, regardless of any misgivings Democratic strategists may have about its consequences in the 2010 election.
For the abortion lobby, the passage of FOCA is the holy grail of their activism, and the just desserts for their strenuous -- and expensive -- efforts on behalf of Obama.
FOCA, as it turns out, is going to be reintroduced in the not-so-distant future. On March 6, a spokesman for Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that FOCA "is among the congressman's priorities. We expect to reintroduce it sooner rather than later."
Ilan Kayatksy, the spokesman, added that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) would introduce the same bill in the Senate "with some minor tweaks." (Representative Nadler introduced FOCA in the 108th and 110th sessions of Congress.) . . .
Thread by Dutchgirl.
A lone sidewalk counselor at a Cherry Hill abortion center is suffering from serious injuries after a young man driving his pregnant wife to the abortion facility reportedly struck the counselor and ran him over. But the victim's wife says that the event probably saved a life, as she believes she was able to persuade the man afterwards not to have his unborn child killed.
The incident took place Saturday morning at the South Jersey Women's Center on Haddonfield Road. George Krail was walking toward the clinic's driveway to offer literature as a car approached, when the driver ran into and over Krail, crushing and twisting his leg. The initial impact was so severe it may have broken several of Krail's ribs.
Krail was taken to Cooper Hospital in Camden, where he is stable but continues to await surgery as of Saturday evening.
When asked George's condition, his wife Tina told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that "George is fine spiritually. His leg's really messed up ... his leg is pointing backwards."
Mrs. Krail, who is a veteran pro-life protester along with her husband, went on to say that the bizarre event "was orchestrated by the Lord."
Krail says her husband was suddenly prompted to witness at the local abortion facility Saturday morning after she showed him the testimony of an abortion survivor she found on a pro-life blog. . .
Thanks for the ping!
Thread by GonzoII.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The so-called economic stimulus bill the Senate approved on Tuesday contains a bailout package for Planned Parenthood that will give the abortion giant hundreds of millions of dollars to promote birth control. President Barack Obama is soon expected to sign the bill into law.
Specifically, a provision buried deep in the legislation clears the way for expanded federal funding of contraceptives through Medicaid for those who aren't even poor.
A Clinton-era program allows states to seek a waiver to offer Medicaid “family planning” services -- including people who are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. If they seek the waiver, the federal government matches the state funding with $9 for every $1.
Naturally, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards was elated by the news.
"We finally did it. It wasn't easy, but after two long years of working with Congress, I'm happy to report [the provision was included]," Richards told supporters in an email. . .
Thread by me.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Douglas Kmiec essentially voided his Catholic and pro-life credentials during the president election with his steadfast defense of Barack Obama despite his clear pro-abortion views. Now he's given pro-life advocates no reason to take him seriously by explaining away Obama's pro-abortion actions as president.
Kmiec is more impressed by Obama's words claiming to want to reduce abortions than his deeds of promoting more abortions at every turn.
"I am especially pleased that the President deliberately highlighted at the national prayer breakfast the abortion reduction expectations he has for this Office," he told U.S. in an email on Tuesday. . .
Thread by me.
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new pro-life video sponsored by Priests for Life is making the rounds across the Internet and is grabbing the attention of thousands. Titled, "Everyone Against Abortion Please Raise Your Hand," the video features a non-graphic image of a person holding the hand of a baby victimized by abortion.
"Let us mourn for these children," the video says. "May our hearts be broken enough for God to enter and stir us to action to defend their lives."
The video is part of a concerted effort from Father Frank Pavone to have Americans confront the reality of how abortion destroys the lives of babies before birth and to do so in a respectful way. . .
Thread by me.
ROME, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Vatican must remove key members of the US Catholic episcopate and replace them with men who will speak and act courageously and with urgency to stop abortion, a prominent American pro-life advocate has told Catholic leadership at the Vatican. Randall Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue, came to Rome last week with a delegation of US pro-life advocates to ask prominent Vatican prelates to end the "scandal" of some American Catholic bishops refusing to act on behalf of unborn children by replacing them.
Terry told LifeSiteNews.com in an exclusive interview that he and his colleagues had come to Rome, "to help connect some dots for certain prelates who perhaps have not had them connected before. … Namely that the greatest single reason that child-killing continues in America is the fear or the outright treachery of US bishops."
Terry was received into the Catholic Church in 2005, and has turned his attention to what he sees as a deficit of orthodoxy and commitment to defending life in the US episcopate. He told LSN that he was committed to founding a new "confederacy" of pro-life groups and individuals who would focus on imploring the leadership of the Catholic Church to "to lay the axe to the poisonous root" of the current episcopate in the US. . .
Thread by GonzoII.
“How do you know when a baby’s life begins?”
That’s the worthy question that starts off this scene from the film “Come What May,” which is available on DVD beginning next week.
Produced by the Advent Film Group, a core team of 40 home-educated students from 16 different states worked on the movie, which examines the issue of life.
It’s a film our President should watch.
“Life doesn’t begin incrementally,” says the young man’s father in the movie clip. “It’s radical. It’s an event, and it only happens once. It’s so simple even a 10-year-old can understand it.”
President Barack Obama’s executive order on Monday to rescind President George W. Bush’s limits on embryonic stem-cell research, guarantees not only that more human embryos will be destroyed in the name of science, but also that taxpayer dollars will go toward the destruction of that life. . .
Randall fought valiantly for Terri !
He certainly did.
Thanks for the ping!
www.terrisfight.org for info.
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