Colorado For Equal Rights Applauds Caplis Biology Lesson:

"Humans Do Not Lay Eggs"

The Caplis and Silverman Show on KHOW radio, heard on 630AM, gave a biology lesson to listeners , criticizing the Rocky Mountain News headline " Huckabee endorses rights for fertilized egg."

Dan Caplis was quoted as saying "[W]hen you want to minimize the humanity of somebody you want to use as property," you "change the terminology, which was done to African-Americans and, you know, is now being done to humans at early stages."

To Listen to the comments click this link:

Caplis continued on to say that humans do not lay eggs, therefore the headline was medically and factually inaccurate.

The Rocky Mountain News article referred to Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee's endorsement of the Colorado Personhood Amendment, sponsored by Colorado for Equal Rights. Summarized, the amendment states that humans are 'people' from the moment of conception.

"Dan Caplis got it right, and we commend him for his stand to protect all human life. From the very moment of fertilization, all the components are there to make a unique human being...a person. And every person should be protected under our laws," commented Kristi Burton, spokesperson of Colorado for Equal Rights.

Colorado for Equal Rights is a statewide grassroots organization of committed pro-life activists. Colorado for Equal Rights is sponsoring the Human Life Amendment to the Colorado Constitution, stating "(t)he term "Person" or "Persons" shall include any human from the time of fertilization." The Human Life Amendment initiative is currently working to gather petition signatures to appear on the November 2008 ballot.

For more information, please contact Kristi Burton at 719-661-8827 or via e-mail at coloradoforequalrights@gmail.com.

Colorado for Equal Rights Responds to Colorado Catholic Conference

Contact: Keith Mason, 720-341-1892

DENVER, Feb. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- Keith Mason, spokesman for Colorado for Equal Rights, issued the following release in response to concerns from the Colorado Catholic Conference regarding the personal endorsements of prominent lay and religious Catholics for the Personhood Amendment ballot initiative:

Photo: Keith Mason and Bishop Tafoya, Keith is holding a petition for the personhood amendment in Colorado

"We are quite pleased to have the support of Catholic and Protestant leaders, both in Colorado and across the nation. To date, Colorado for Equal Rights has in pledges and direct contributions over $110,000 and has gathered over 30,000 signatures. Over 274 churches have signed on in support of personhood, over 856 petition gatherers across Colorado are working hard to make a difference, and national leaders such as Pastor Mike Huckabee have given our efforts a tremendous boost."

"We welcome the interest of the Colorado Catholic Conference. Archbishop Chaput's letter allowing Catholic priests and parishes across Colorado to support personhood on a case-by-case basis is an important first step – one which Catholic and Protestant pro-lifers appreciate."

"As we continue to grow and build strength, grassroots pro-lifers look forward to the active and public support of the Colorado Catholic Conference, as well as our Catholic bishops."

Colorado for Equal Rights is a statewide grassroots organization of committed pro-life activists. Colorado for Equal Rights is sponsoring the Human Life Amendment to the Colorado Constitution, stating "(t)he term "Person" or "Persons" shall include any human from the time of fertilization." The Human Life Amendment initiative is currently working to gather petition signatures to appear on the November 2008 ballot.

For more information, please contact Keith Mason at 720.341.1892 or via e-mail at coloradoforequalrights@gmail.com.

CRAZY YOUTUBE VIDEO OF MARGARET SANGER'S
POSSIBLE TIES TO THE KKK

This topic has been raised on the internet
for years but was always dismissed by claiming the internet poster used fake images. With the recent startling
revelations about PP's blatant and obvious racism, leading to over 1,400 black babies being killed by American
abortionists daily, the topic has resurfaced.

We report, you decide.

DOES ABORTION SUPPORT RACISM?
YOU DECIDE

STEVEN CURTIS ASKS

The time is long overdue for a national conversation
to begin on why over 1,400 black babies die each day
at the hands of an abortionist!!

WHAT WE'VE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS!!






Thursday, February 28, 2008
MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
WorldNetDaily

Planned Parenthood: Wanting
fewer blacks 'understandable'
Abortion provider says 'yes' when
'donor' wants to reduce minorities
Posted: February 27, 2008
8:33 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily



A student-run magazine at UCLA has revealed an undercover investigation in which representatives of Planned Parenthood, the nation's abortion industry leader, admitted willingness to accepting a financial donation targeting the destruction of an unborn black baby.

Lila Rose, who edits The Advocate, previously revealed how Planned Parenthood officials expressed a willingness to conceal statutory rape, an investigative piece that earned her an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor.

Now she's told WND she hopes the taped responses of Planned Parenthood officials in seven states reveal to her local UCLA community and the nation at large the racist leanings of the organization.

WND calls to Planned Parenthood of Idaho, which was featured in The Advocate report, requesting a comment were not returned.

"Students on campus are shocked and saddened that such a huge organization would have racist leanings in the present day," she told WND. "They are surprised to hear the truth about [Planned Parenthood founder] Margaret Sanger, and how the African-American community is being hurt by abortion.

(Story continues below)

"There's a lot of surprise out there. Planned Parenthood does an excellent job of covering up the facts," she said.

Sanger supported eugenics to cull those she considered unfit from the population. In 1921, she said eugenics is "the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems."

At one point, she lamented "the ever increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all." Another time, Sanger wrote, "We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population."

According to Bryan Fisher, executive director of Idaho Values Alliance, Planned Parenthood, which gets an estimated $200 million annually from U.S. taxpayers, has located nearly 80 percent of its clinics nationwide in minority neighborhoods, and about one-third of all abortions are performed on blacks, even though they make up only 13 percent of the population.

Some of the information about the investigation was posted on a YouTube video:




Nationwide, almost half of all black pregnancies end in abortion, officials said.

"It turns out that blatant racism is alive and well in Idaho, but it's not coming from the Aryan Nation types – it's coming from way-left organizations like Idaho's own Planned Parenthood," Fischer said. "If Idaho is in fact a haven for white racism, it turns out that Planned Parenthood and not Richard Butler is to blame."

Richard Butler, who died in 2004, was a notorious white supremacist who founded Aryan Nations in northern Idaho. He lost a 20-acre compound in 2000 when a $6.3 million civil judgment against his group led to a bankruptcy.

"Idaho didn't have room for Richard Butler and shouldn't have room for Planned Parenthood," Fischer said.

The Advocate released a transcript of a conversation between an actor presuming to be a racist and wanting to make a donation, and a woman identified as Autumn Kersey, vice president of marketing for Planned Parenthood of Idaho.



Actor: I want to specify that abortion to help a minority group, would that be possible?
Planned Parenthood: Absolutely.
Actor: Like the black community for example?
Planned Parenthood: Certainly.
Actor: The abortion – I can give money specifically for a black baby, that would be the purpose?
Planned Parenthood: Absolutely. If you wanted to designate that your gift be used to help an African-American woman in need, then we would certainly make sure that the gift was earmarked for that purpose.
Actor: Great, because I really faced trouble with affirmative action, and I don't want my kids to be disadvantaged against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name.
Planned Parenthood: Yes, absolutely.
Actor: And we don't, you know we just think, the less black kids out there the better.
Planned Parenthood: (Laughs) Understandable, understandable.
Actor: Right. I want to protect my son, so he can get into college.
Planned Parenthood: All right. Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited, and want to make sure I don't leave anything out.
The investigation included calls to Planned Parenthood in Idaho and half a dozen other states



"I think Idahoans are going to be horrified and shocked at the blatant racism and bigotry exhibited by our local Planned Parenthood affiliate," said Fischer. "I just cannot imagine they're going to stand for that."

He said the timing of the release of the information was intriguing, because the Idaho Legislature is scheduled this week to have its first public hearing on a bill written to prevent Idaho women from being forced into having abortions they do not want.

Lila Rose said students at UCLA now have begun a petition to request the school cut its affiliations with Planned Parenthood.

She said the actor specifically asked about lowering "the number of black people," and each PP branch called agreed to process the racially earmarked donation.

"None expressed concern about the racist reasoning for the donation," The Advocate said.

The Advocate said an Ohio representative, identified as Lisa Hutton, listens to the racist reasoning, but confirmed Planned Parenthood "will accept the money for whatever reason."

Rose said her UCLA campaign has been endorsed by Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, who said she supports "the student campaign to get UCLA to cease its programs with Planned Parenthood."

Another Planned Parenthood branch, in Kansas, is facing 107 misdemeanor and felonies charges for allegedly violating Kansas abortion law.

WND reported Rose earlier posed as a 15-year-old seeking an abortion at a Planned Parenthood center in Santa Monica, Calif. She was equipped with a hidden camera when she met with an employee to discuss her options.

When Rose revealed she was 15 and her boyfriend was 23 the employee informed her Planned Parenthood was legally required to report the statutory rape, a transcript of the conversation shows.

The Planned Parenthood representative then suggested she could say she was 16, and avoid complications. "Well, just figure out a birth date that works. And I don't know anything," the rep said.

The Texas-based pro-life group Life Dynamics earlier conducted an extensive undercover project in which an adult volunteer posing as a 13-year-old called every Planned Parenthood clinic in the U.S., saying she was pregnant by a 22-year-old boyfriend. Almost without exception, the clinics advised her to obtain an abortion without her parents' knowledge and told her how to protect her boyfriend, who would be guilty in any state of statutory rape.

COLORADO'S PERSONHOOD AMENDMENT

David's Stone: Personhood

By Michael Hichborn

The ongoing effort to save preborn babies from the culture of death is akin to the epic battle between David and Goliath. While the pro-life movement struggles just to maintain its grassroots support base, the massive and powerful culture of death has access to all of the money, political power and propaganda it could ever want.

At least David had the nerve to show up for the fight. Right now, in Colorado, a 20-year-old law student has taken up David's sling and is prepared to throw the deadly stone while some self-professed pro-life leaders, politicians and clergymen cower because they believe that "now is not the right time."
In November 2007, Kristi Burton, founder of Colorado for Equal Rights, won an important victory in the state supreme court allowing her to move forward with Proposed Initiative 36. The initiative simply states that "the terms 'person' or 'persons' shall include any human being from the moment of fertilization." This initiative is the lynchpin for restoring the right to life for all preborn babies, because in the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote, "If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment."

Over the past 35 years, nearly 50,000,000 preborn babies have been legally butchered in their own mothers' wombs. The most we have to show for our effort to stop this carnage is an alleged ban on the heinous practice of partially delivering a baby, stabbing him or her in the back of the head and then sucking his or her brains out. Hailed by some as a pro-life victory, the so-called ban on partial-birth abortion isn't truly a ban because the Supreme Court decision itself included instructions permitting doctors to circumvent the ban by injecting the baby with poison before completing the grisly procedure. What is so completely baffling, however, is that organizations like the National Right to Life Committee will pop a champagne cork for a ruling that won't stop a single abortion, but will not support or will even directly oppose the personhood initiative – which would directly end all abortions – because they claim that "now is not the right time."

Some may ask, "If now is not the right time to save babies, when is?" But it's more appropriate to ask, "Why not now?' What do pro-life leaders, politicians and clergymen have to lose by acting now instead of waiting for "the right time"? If the initiative fails, do we admit defeat, tell the babies we're sorry we couldn't do better, pack up and go home? How many amendments and legislative measures are voted upon only once before being passed? The answer is less than one percent! If the initiative fails, you start over and try again and you keep trying until it works. It is hard, tedious and frustrating work, but when compared with the suffering of innocent preborn children who face dismemberment and death, the decision is an easy one. Only those locked in their lofty ivory towers, comfortable with merely drawing a salary to do "pro-life" work, remain silent or oppose real pro-life measures while they wait for "the right time."

There is no "right time." David went into battle against Goliath without military or combat training and without a sword, shield or helmet. He carried only a sling and some rocks. He was a mere boy and the timing was as much against him as his size and strength. But his courage and faith in God led to victory. In truth, the victory over the culture of death will not be ours to claim, just as the timing is not ours to decide. Kristi Burton heard the call from God to defend human life and answered it without question, without waiting for "the right time" and without compromise. Her leadership brings to mind the words of a shepherd who slew a giant:

You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted. Today the LORD shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will leave your corpse and the corpses of the Philistine army for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; thus the whole land shall learn that Israel has a God. All this multitude, too, shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves. For the battle is the LORD'S, and He shall deliver you into our hands. (1 Samuel 17: 45-47)
When doing the work of God and calling on people to support the defense of babies, can timing really be an issue? While pro-life leaders, politicians and clergymen stand idly by, waiting for "the right time," Kristi Burton puts it all in God's hands, stands in the arena, takes careful aim and throws.
Michael Hichborn is American Life League's media relations director.

A PICTURE IS WORTH 1,000 WORDS!

THANKS BILLY

OBAMA BLOCKBUSTER!!

At least he's consistently PRO-DEATH!!

Barack Obama Would Take Back Vote Helping Terri Schiavo Avoid Euthanasia

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 26, 2008


Cleveland, OH (LifeNews.com) -- Senator Barack Obama debated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night and said his biggest mistake was voting with a unanimous Senate to help save Terri Schiavo. Terri is the disabled Florida woman whose husband won the legal right to starve her to death.

In March 2005, just weeks before Terri died from a painful 14-day starvation and dehydration death, Congress approved legislation allowing her family to take its case from state courts to federal courts in an effort to stop the euthanasia from proceeding.

Terri was not on any artificial breathing apparatus and only required a feeding tube to eat and drink. Her family had filed a lawsuit against her former husband to allow them to care for her and give her proper medical and rehabilitative care.
The Senate unanimously approved a compromise bill, which the House eventually supported on a lopsided bipartisan vote and President Bush signed, to help the disabled woman.

During the Tuesday debate, Obama said he should have stood up against the life-saving legislation.

“It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped,” Obama said.

“And I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better,” he added.

This isn't the first time Obama has said the biggest mistake he made as senator was voting to help try to stop Terri from being euthanized.

During an April 2007 debate, Obama said, "I think professionally the biggest mistake that I made was when I first arrived in the Senate. There was a debate about Terri Schiavo, and a lot of us, including me, left the Senate with a bill that allowed Congress to intrude where it shouldn't have.”

"And I think I should have stayed in the Senate and fought more for making sure [Terri's parents couldn't take their case to federal court to save her life]," he explained.

Since Terri’s death, the Schindler family has established a foundation to help disabled and elderly patients obtain proper medical care and legal and other assistance when they are denied it.

Related web sites:
Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation - http://www.terrisfight.org

THE DENVER POST IS SERIOUS WITH THIS TITLE?

Huckabee endorses 'egg as person' amendment
By Electa Draper

The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 02/25/2008 08:04:25 PM MST


Mike Huckabee (AP file)
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Monday endorsed a proposed Colorado Human Life Amendment that would define personhood as a fertilized egg.

The former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister also supports a human-life amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Huckabee spoke favorably about the Colorado ballot initiative, sponsored by 20-year-old Kristi Burton and her Colorado for Equal Rights group, during his Friday visit to Colorado Springs.

On Monday, Huckabee lent official support to the measure.
"This proposed constitutional amendment will define a person as a human being from the moment life begins at conception," Huckabee said in a statement.

"With this amendment, Colorado has an opportunity to send a clear message that every human life has value," Huckabee said. "Passing this amendment will mean the people of Colorado will protect the sanctity of life from conception until natural death occurs."

Burton's initiative, if approved by voters in November, would extend state constitutional protections to every fertilized egg, guaranteeing the right to life, liberty, equality of justice and due process of law.
Approval would lay the foundation for making abortion illegal in the state.

Burton, said she spoke with Huckabee Friday when he was in Colorado Springs for a speech.
"Having national pro-life leaders such as Huckabee taking notice is an amazing boost to our petition-gathering efforts," Burton said.
Burton and supporters must collect the signatures of about 76,000 registered Colorado voters to get the question on the ballot.
The measure is opposed by reproductive-rights groups such as Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado.

Opponents say the amendment would have sweeping consequences, not only for those seeking abortions, but for women using hormone-based contraception and couples using in-vitro fertilization to start families.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com

CHILLING!

John Mc Cain's benefactor:
Death Peddler - George Soros

CALLING ALL MINNESOTANS!
"Science Museum exhibit explores how
Nazi eugenics effort led to the holocaust"

Parents in Minnesota have a fabulous opportunity to give their children a real education this spring about a life and death topic that really matters!

"The lab coats, microscopes and medical instruments on display at the Science Museum of Minnesota are typically seen as noble symbols of knowledge, healing and rational inquiry.

In the case of a new exhibit, however, they are artifacts of science gone astray and medicine perverted to serve the goals of "racial hygiene," mass forced sterilization, segregation, euthanasia and ultimately genocide.

"Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race" is the story of the eugenics movement implemented by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and '40s. The exhibit, created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., opens Wednesday in the downtown St. Paul museum.

Eugenics is the belief that the human species could be improved by discouraging or stopping reproduction by people with genetic defects or undesirable traits and encouraging reproduction among those believed to have desirable, inheritable traits. It was carried out to its most horrifying extremes in Nazi Germany.

But the exhibit, which includes artifacts, photos and video testimonials, shows that advocacy for eugenics predated the rise of Hitler and that many in the scientific and medical communities embraced its use.

The theory also was promoted and practiced in places beyond Germany, including the United States and Minnesota.

Susan Bachrach, the exhibit curator with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, said the exhibit was created to try to help understand how the Holocaust happened in the most educated society in the world.

It turned out scientists lent a helping hand.

'GOOD BIRTH'

The term eugenics, meaning "good birth," was first coined by English scientist Francis Galton in 1883. But the idea took root in early 20th century Germany, which at the time was the world leader in science and medicine."

PRAYERS THIS EXHIBIT MAKES ITS WAY TO EVERY STATE IN THE UNION!

LET'S TELL THE TRUTH - THEY'RE DEATH CAMPS!!

If I were one of the Colorado Archbishops, my outrage would sound like this:

"PP calls itself pro-child, pro-woman, pro-family, yet they routinely
dismember the tiniest members of our human family, seduce teens into
a debauched lifestyle that leads to heart ache and disease, and covers up
the statutory rape of underage girls by adult men as Life Dynamics proved
with their sting of the organization in the recent past. Our tax dollars should
never reach the pockets of this criminal organization that is a stain on America's history."


Friday February 22, 2008
Planned Parenthood Building Mega-Facilities in Houston, Denver and Massachusetts
78,000 square feet, 50,000 square feet and 30,000 square feet respectively
By Hilary White

HOUSTON, Texas, February 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last year, citizens of Aurora, Illinois, protested and complained to their local authorities at the arrival of what was then, at 22,000 square feet, the largest Planned Parenthood abortion facility in the country. But the organization that boasts of being the largest abortion organization in the world, has exceeded its record with the opening of a giant 78,000 square-foot baby-killing facility in Houston, Texas.

The new abortion facility, say local pro-life groups, is three times the size of the Illinois building, will have three operating rooms and be equipped to commit late term abortions. It is scheduled to open in the fall and will coincide with the opening of the school year.

Christine Melchor with Houston Coalition for Life said, "This building was purchased with the intention of incorporating the surgical ambulatory center so they are able to do more abortions." The building is situated across the street from the University of Houston.

"We know that they like to be situated close to the college campuses and the high schools. It makes it much more convenient for women to come into their facilities," Melchor said. She estimates that Planned Parenthood's new facility will double the number of children it kills from its current 6000 a year.

In November 2007, Planned Parenthood announced it was building a 50,000 square foot facility as its new headquarters in Denver, Colorado.

Archbishop Charles Chaput, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs and Bishop Arthur Tafoya of Pueblo expressed the outrage of pro-life people in the state saying, "Planned Parenthood calls itself pro-child, pro-woman, and pro-family. Yet it is an organization based on falsehoods about the human person, the family and community life."

Planned Parenthood purchased the Denver property under the name "Fuller 38 LLC". They admitted to the Denver Post that the subterfuge was deliberate as a means of sidestepping protests and delays. Pro-life people in Aurora delayed the opening of the mega-facility in their town, exposing the organization's methods in obtaining planning permission from local authorities.

At the same time, the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts has announced it is giving up its two-story abortion facility in Worcester, Massachusetts for a three-story, 33,000 square foot building in the same town.

Planned Parenthood, including its various affiliates, is the largest abortion organization in the world. Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) receives almost a third of its money in government grants and contracts that amounted to $305.3 million in 2006. In 2005, US Planned Parenthood killed 264,943 children by surgical and "medical" or chemical abortions, more than any other abortion organization in the US.

Largest Ever Planned Parenthood Abortion Mill Threatens to Open Near Chicago
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07082209.html

URL: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/feb/08022207.html

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any Internet re-publishing of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews that have come from other news sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.

MORE BETTER OFF DEAD THAN DISABLED THEORY
AND PRACTICE:

The Groningen Protocol


Friday February 22, 2008
SHOCK: Newborns Who Suffer are "Better off Dead" - "World's Most Prestigious" Bioethics Journal
"Baby is judged to be better off dead than forced to endure the only kind of life it can ever have," say authors
By John Jalsevac

GARRISON, NY, February 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In 2005 the world was horrified when it was revealed that in the Netherlands doctors were not only openly admitting that they had killed disabled newborn infants, but that the medical institution was actively promoting child euthanasia through the so-called Groningen Protocol. The protocol - the full name of which is The Groningen Protocol for Euthanasia in Newborns - lays out a set of guidelines that must be followed in making and executing the decision to kill a newborn infant.

The revelation that newborn euthanasia was both common and acceptable in the Netherlands was greeted with harsh criticisms from around the world, with one Italian Minister going to far as to accuse the Netherlands of Nazism. Others expressed their disgust that many of the children who were being euthanized by Dutch doctors were children with Spina Bifida, a condition with which many people have lived well into adulthood and had fulfilling lives.

A lengthy report that appears in the most recent issue of The Hastings Center Report - called by conservative bioethicist Wesley Smith the "world's most prestigious" journal of bioethics - however, strongly defends The Groningen Protocol as humane and perfectly ethical. It especially defends the ethical nature of the protocol's provisions for killing newborns with conditions that would allow them to live for many years.

The article, entitled "Ending the Life of a Newborn", penned by a pair of bioethicists - Hilde Lindemann and Marian Verkerk - ostensibly sets out to clarify eight separate "misunderstandings" about The Groningen Protocol. In the process, the pair defies initial expectations by boldly and unapologetically pointing out that the protocol is in truth much more extreme than most of its critics believe it to be; the authors, however, argue that its extremity is in fact its true strength, the true evidence of its ethical nature.

As the authors explain, there are three classes of newborns that can be euthanized under the Groningen Protocol, including: 1) Those who have no chance of survival, 2) those who "may survive after a period of intensive treatment but expectations for their future are very grim;" and 3) those "who do not depend on technology for physiologic stability and whose suffering is severe, sustained, and cannot be alleviated."

Amongst the eight criticisms that Lindemann and Verkerk take on is the criticism that the protocol "fails to distinguish with clinical precision between babies whose prognosis of death is certain and those who would continue to live." This fact, however, the authors argue, is the whole point of the protocol, for "it is precisely those babies who could continue to live, but whose lives would be wretched in the extreme, who stand in most need of the interventions for which the protocol offers guidance."

In fact, the pair suggests, there are some babies who are born with painful abnormalities that, if allowed to live, would live well into adulthood - but they are the ones who should be euthanized. In these cases "the baby is judged to be better off dead than forced to endure the only kind of life it can ever have."

The conditions that would allow babies to be killed in these circumstances include: "progressive paralysis, complete lifelong dependency, and permanent inability to communicate in any way."

"The whole point of the protocol is to help physicians end the lives of newborns who are so severely afflicted that neither their dying nor their living should be prolonged. That being the case, the pertinent distinction is not between babies who will die and those who could live, but between babies for whom life-ending decisions should be made and those for whom such decisions cannot be morally justified. In bringing within its compass babies who are in no danger of dying - and, indeed, with proper care could live to adulthood - the protocol is even more radical than its critics supposed."

The authors take to task those critics of the protocol who have suggested that it would be more ethical to ensure that babies with disabilities are aborted in utero, rather than killing them after they are born. "The supposedly morally superior alternative [of abortion]…does not strike us as superior at all," they say. Instead, the authors write, the parents should wait until the child is born, when they can make a more informed decision about the chance that their child has of living a "satisfactory" life. "We join disability activists who condemn the routine recommendation of abortions performed for no other reason than to prevent the birth of an affected baby."

It would be wiser, they suggest, to kill the child after it is born, if it is then determined to have poor prospects of a "satisfactory" life, than to hide behind the false moral justification of killing the disabled child in utero.
Lindemann and Verkerk also clarify that in order for a newborn child to be killed by a physician, it is not necessary for the child to be suffering in the present, but physician and parents can make the choice to kill a newborn based upon a judgment of suffering in the future. "The protocol has been taken to apply not only to pain, but also to other kinds of serious and unrelievable conditions…The protocol thus leaves room for cases in which the suffering will take place in the future."

Once again the authors argue that the radical and far-reaching nature of the protocol is in fact a sign of its ethical superiority, saying "This forward-looking feature of the protocol is justified on the grounds that it is inhumane to keep a baby alive until it begins to experience intolerable suffering."

The killing of newborns, whether for current or for future pain and suffering, is justified by the authors by "quality of life criteria". They observe that it is already true in the Netherlands, and indeed throughout much of the world, that quality of life judgments are frequently made by physicians and family members in deciding whether or not to continue treatment for an adult. "It is one of the harsh realities of twenty-first-century medicine that quality-of-life judgments must be made. What we must not do is pretend that we do not already make them, and that there is somehow something morally different about doing it for a newborn baby."

Lindemann and Verkerk conclude that because newborn children are born into such a caring society, that does everything it can to provide for its citizens, ending the life of those babies who will suffer is "the most caring response," clarifying that "the judgment must be made with fear and trembling."

"Concerning the larger question of whether the practice for which the protocol was developed can be morally justified, we think it can - in the Netherlands, at any rate. When a tragically impaired infant is born into a society that is hospitable to its children, offers universal access to decent health care, and promotes an ethos among its citizens whereby they look after each other as a matter of course, we believe that the doctor's ending the baby's life could be the best, most caring response."

Conservative bioethicist Wesley Smith has responded to the Hastings Center article both on his blog, and in an article printed by the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, saying that he was "taken aback" at the article, which has firmly placed infanticide into the mainstream.

"It wasn't many years ago that almost everyone accepted that infanticide is intrinsically and inherently wrong," wrote Smith. "No more. With personhood theory and the 'quality of life' ethic increasingly permeating the highest levels of the medical and bioethical intelligentsia, we are moving toward a medical system in which babies are put down like dogs and killing is redefined as compassion.

"But bigotry is bigotry even if you spell it c.o.m.p.a.s.s.i.o.n. And to think, after World War II German doctors were hanged for doing precisely what is being promoted in the 'prestigious' Hastings Center Report."

To read the full Hastings Center article, "Ending the Life of a Newborn", go to:
http://www.thehastingscenter.org/publications/hcr/hcr.asp

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Italian Minister Accuses Holland of "Nazism" for Euthanasia Laws
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06032003.html

Paediatric Neurosurgeons Criticize Dutch Practice of Euthanasia on Babies With Spina Bifida
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/jan/08011610.html

Holland to Allow Baby Euthanasia
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06030601.html

Netherlands Set to Give Go-Ahead to Child Euthanasia
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05093006.html

Dutch Euthanasia Doctor Admits to Killing 4 Newborns With Lethal Injections
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/apr/05042706.html

Infant Euthanasia Underreported in Netherlands, Study Finds
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/mar/05031102.html

URL: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/feb/08022201.html

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ISN'T THAT SPECIAL ???

Chocolate and champagne to aid Planned Parenthood
Event marks 20th anniversary in Athens

Special to the Gazette

Planned Parenthood of Southeast Ohio will conduct its signature event and fundraiser, Chocolate and Champagne, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the rotunda of Margaret M. Walter Hall on the Ohio University campus in Athens.

This year is the 20th anniversary for the event. Many local business owners and individuals sponsor the event, and the evening features free champagne and delectable delights including coffees and other non-alcoholic beverages, as well as sumptuous chocolate and hors d'oeuvres. A cash bar with wine and beer also will be on site.

ADVERTISEMENT
A live auction with Shamrock Auctioneers Wanda and Pat Sheridan, as well as area MCs Tanya Conrath and Tom Quinn, will headline the entertainment, with silent and choice raffle auctions rounding out the fun. Live music featuring jazz pianist Jim Wachtel also will accompany the event.

For reservation information, call (740) 593-3376.

MEDICAL SCIENCE UNDER DICTATORSHIP
A refresher course is needed!

"There is constant discussion of the question of the destruction of socially unfit life—in the places where there are mental institutions, in neighboring towns, sometimes over a large area, throughout the Rhineland, for example. The people have come to recognize the vehicles in which the patients are taken from their original institution to the intermediate institution and from there to the liquidation institution. I am told that when they see these buses even the children call out: "They're taking some more people to be gassed." From Limburg it is reported that every day from one to three buses which shades drawn pass through on the way from Weilmunster to Hadmar, delivering inmates to the liquidation institution there. According to the stories the arrivals are immediately stripped to the skin, dressed in paper shirts, and forthwith taken to a gas chamber, where they are liquidated with hydro-cyanic acid gas and an added anesthetic. The bodies are reported to be moved to a combustion chamber by means of a conveyor belt, six bodies to a furnace. The resulting ashes are then distributed into six urns which are shipped to the families. The heavy smoke from the crematory building is said to be visible over Hadamar every day. There is talk, furthermore, that in some cases heads and other portions of the body are removed for anatomical examination. The people working at this liquidation job in the institutions are said to be assigned from other areas and are shunned completely by the populace.

This personnel is described as frequenting the bars at night and drinking heavily. Quite apart from these overt incidents that exercise the imagination of the people, the are disquieted by the question of whether old folk who have worked hard all their lives and may merely have come into their dotage are also being liquidated. There is talk that the homes for the aged are to be cleaned out too. The people are said to be waiting for legislative regulation providing some orderly method that will insure especially that the aged feeble-minded are not included in the program."

The above paragraph should be a wake up call to the US about the siren song seducing our institutions for the
past two decades. Dr. Leo Alexander's treatise on Nazi medicine should be mandatory reading for all medical students, if not all students.

Don't hold your breath!

Calling President Sarkozy: I have a curriculum suggestion!

CREEPY SCHIAVO LAWYER FELOS ON
LAUREN RICHARDSON

While recently reading a Delaware On Line article
about Lauren Richardson's fight to live, a George Felos quote jumped
off the page and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

Inserting himself into another disabled woman's family turf battle should
raise the hackles of any who remember his work with Michael Schiavo to
ensure Terri's untimely demise.

Felos, author of "Litigation as Spiritual Practice" has a history with disabled women
who can't speak for themselves. As a matter of fact, George Felos has a habit
of speaking for them.

The Delaware On Line, February 3, 08, article explained, "Felos said he was pleased that this is apparently exactly what happened with Lauren Richardson and her mother."

'This is just an example of why living wills (also called Advance Heath Care Directives) ... is not just an elderly issue. It is for everyone. We just don't know when our time will come,' he said. 'If there is any grace that came out of the Schiavo case, it is that lives were affected in a positive way,' he said."

Mr. Felos musings about Estelle Browning's so-called "right to die" struggle are chronicled in his chilling book available
from Blue Dolphin Press.

"Such a deep, dark, silent blue. I stared as far into her eyes as I could, hoping to sense some glimmer of understanding, some hint of awareness. The deeper I dove, the darker became the blue, until the blue became the black of some bottomless lake. "Mrs. Browning, do you want to die ... do you want to die?" I nearly shouted as I continued to peer into her pools of strikingly beautiful but incognizant blue. It felt so eerie. Her eyes were wide open and crystal clear, but instead of the warmth of lucidity, they burned with the ice of expressionlessness."

This encounter with Mrs. Browning led Mr. Felos, Esq. to his current crusader role in "freeing the disabled" in Florida
and chillingly beyond.

THANK YOU PRESIDENT SARKOZY!

President of France Confronts evil.

Sarkozy Stirs Anger With Holocaust Curriculum

Published Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008 at 4:51 a.m.
PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy dropped an intellectual bombshell this week, surprising the nation and touching off waves of protest with his revision of the school curriculum: beginning next fall, he said, every fifth grader will have to learn the life story of one of the 11,000 French children killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust.

HELP AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE PUNCH
PLANNED PARENTHOOD

ALL and CRLT VP, Hanks agree:

Planned Parenthood Kills for profit!

"The beginning of the claim by Colorado Right to Life VP Leslie Hanks tells us to "face it, they're in the business to kill babies for profit," which the entire Post article seems to be framed around. Um wait, but isn't Planned Parenthood a NON-for-profit organization? Hmmmmm.."

Brietbart raises an important plagiarism
question. Yet, a larger question looms:

Why do these candidates leave out
the most important phrase from
the Declaration of Independence?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. "

They might then need to explain the over 1,400 black babies who die needlessly each day at the hands of abortionists.

DOES AMERICA HAVE ANY SOPHIE SCHOLLS?

Executed by the 3rd Reich, Sophie
and her pals sought to awaken awareness to the plight of the Jews.

Their campus distribution of controversial pamphlets cost them their lives.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., the majority applaud the euthanasia movement, bought and paid for by George Soros (PDIA,) which starves and dehydrates the disabled, when they can't speak for themselves.

Is America today really much different from Hitler's murderous regime?

FORMER PRESIDENT SEETHES AT PRO-LIFER

Posted: Sunday, February 17, 2008 7:32 PM by Mark Murray

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann

At a later event today in Steubenville, OH, Bill Clinton snapped hard at an anti-abortion protestor who had interrupted him.

“I gave you the answer. We disagree with you," Clinton said. "You wanna criminalize women and their doctors and we disagree... I reduced abortion… Tell the truth, tell the truth… If you were really pro-life, if you were really pro-life, you would want to put every doctor and every mother as an accessory to murder in prison. And you won’t say you wanna do that because you know that because you know that you wouldn't have a lick of political support. Now, the issue is who … the issue is, you can't name me anybody presently in politics that did more to introduce policies that reduce the number of real abortions instead of the hot air putting out to tear people up and make votes by dividing America."

“This is not your rally. I heard you. That's another thing you need is a president, somebody who will stick up for individual rights and not be pushed around, and she won't."

Blagojevich condolences about NIU massacre ring hollow !

Ezekiel 35:6 "Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will give you 

over to bloodshed and it will pursue you.  Since you did not hate bloodshed,

bloodshed will pursue you.

Gov Blagojevich has opposed any restrictions on the shedding of innocent

babies' blood in his state.  He recently even has forced pharmacists to

violate their consciences by demanding they prescribe deadly chemical

abortion pills.

Rather than protecting innocent human life as the founders envisioned in 

the Declaration of Independence, he has trashed his office by his pro-death 

efforts.

Pray for the citizens of Illinois, my state of origin.  

May this tragedy awaken this "leader" to his duty to uphold the constitution

and stop the madness of destruction of the innocent by those who make 

$$ from their deaths.

JOHN MCCAIN'S TIES TO 

AMERICA'S TOP DEATH PEDDLER

One need only look to McCain's ties to George Soros (founder of

Open Society/Project on Death in America)  in

today's World Net Daily article, "John McCain funded By 

Soros since 2001" to understand his hostile comments about Terri,

as Jill Stanek revealed today.

CALLING DELEWARE'S GOVERNOR FOR LAUREN

Ruth Ann Minner needs to hear from concerned pro-lifers

that she not only has the authority but the duty to protect

innocent human life. 

When calling to express concern about Lauren Richardson,

her staffer stated that she doesn't get involved in judicial

matters.

I explained that she has the authority to pardon criminals,

so she surely can pardon an innocent disabled woman whose

mother wants to starve her to death.

The staffer refused to acknowledge that the executive branch

can challenge the judicial branch.

Please call Governor Minner and plead for Lauren's life.

Wilmington office 302-577-3210

Dover office 302-744-4101

Lauren's website, Lifeforlauren.org has info about the use of

Ambien in removing individuals from locked in states.

Pray that her family will have the right to try this therapy

with their loved one!

Might AMBIEN save Lauren?

Not long after America's courts successfully aided and abetted the
nefarious Michael Schiavo judicially murder his disabled wife, Terri
Schindler, an article was posted by The Guardian
"Sleeping pill wakes men in vegetative state."

With Lauren Richardson's life on the line, as her mother plots her demise,
one prays that this drug will make a difference in unlocking this beautiful
young woman's ability to communicate.

Disabled individuals do not deserve the death penalty and their God-given right
to life should never be infringed, but the promise of this drug's potential to
protect the innocent should be promoted.

FEMALES WITH DOWNS SYNDROME USED
IN SUICIDE ATTACK


Female Bombers Strike Markets in Baghdad

Feb 1 12:42 PM US/Eastern
By KIM GAMEL
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - Remote-controlled explosives strapped to two mentally retarded women detonated in a coordinated attack on Baghdad pet bazaars Friday, police and Iraqi officials said, killing at least 73 people in the deadliest day since the U.S. sent 30,000 extra troops to the capital this spring.
The chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Qassim al- Moussawi, claimed the female bombers had Down syndrome and that the explosives were detonated by remote control, indicating they may not having been willing attackers in what could be a new method by suspected Sunni insurgents to subvert stepped up security measures.

Bolstering that claim, local police said the woman in the first attack sold cream in the morning at the market and was known to locals as "the crazy lady."

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said the bombings showed that a resilient al-Qaida has "found a different, deadly way" to try to destabilize Iraq.

"There is nothing they won't do if they think it will work in creating carnage and the political fallout that comes from that," he told The Associated Press in an interview at the State Department.

The first attack Friday occurred at about 10:20 a.m. in the central al-Ghazl market. The weekly bazaar has been bombed several times since the war started but recently had re-emerged as a popular place to shop and stroll as Baghdad security improved and a Friday ban on driving was lifted.

Four police and hospital officials said at least 46 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. Firefighters scooped up debris scattered among pools of blood, clothing and pigeon carcasses.

About 20 minutes later, a second female suicide bomber struck a bird market in a predominantly Shiite area in southeastern Baghdad. That blast killed as many as 27 people and wounded 67, according to police and hospital officials.

The attacks were the latest in a series of violent incidents that have been chipping away at Iraqi confidence in the permanence of recent security gains.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said about 70 people were killed in both attacks, which he said were committed by terrorists motivated by revenge and "to show that they are still able to stop the march of history and of our people toward reconciliation."

Police initially said the bomb at al-Ghazl market was hidden in a box of birds but determined it was a suicide attack after finding the woman's head, an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

One pigeon vendor said the market had been particularly busy because it was a pleasantly crisp and clear winter day after a recent cold spell.

"I have been going to the pet market with my friend every Friday, selling and buying pigeons," said Ali Ahmed, who was hit by shrapnel in his legs and chest. "It was nice weather today and the market was so crowded."

He said he was worried about his friend, Zaki, who disappeared after the blast about 40 yards away.

"I just remember the horrible scene of the bodies of dead and wounded people mixed with the blood of animals and birds, then I found myself lying in a hospital bed," Ali said.

Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye, a U.S. military spokesman, gave lower casualty figures, saying seven were killed and 23 wounded in the first bombing, and 20 killed and 30 wounded in the second.

He confirmed both attacks were carried out by women wearing explosives vests and said the attacks appeared to be coordinated and likely the work of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Associated Press records show that since the start of the war at least 151 people have been killed in at least 17 attacks or attempted attacks by female suicide bombers, including today's bombings.

The most recent was on Jan. 16 when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives as Shiites were preparing for a ceremony marking the holiday of Ashoura in a Shiite village near the Diyala provincial capital of Baqouba.

Involving women in fighting violates cultural taboos in Iraq, but the U.S. military has warned that al-Qaida in Iraq is recruiting females and youths to stage suicide attacks because militants are increasingly desperate to thwart stepped-up security measures.

Women in Iraq often wear a black Islamic robe known as an abaya and can avoid thorough searches at checkpoints because men are not allowed to search them and there's a dearth of female guards.

Many teenage boys were among the casualties in the al-Ghazl bombing, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

A bomb hidden in a box of small birds also exploded at the al-Ghazl market in late November, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens. The U.S. military blamed the November attack on Iranian-backed Shiite militants, saying they had hoped al-Qaida in Iraq would be held responsible for the attack so Iraqis would turn to them for protection.

The U.S. military has been unable to stop the suicide bombings despite a steep drop in violence in the past six months, but the explosions on Friday were the deadliest in the capital since Aug. 1, when some 70 people were killed in three attacks, including 50 in a fuel truck explosion in Baghdad.

Rae Muhsin, the 21-year-old owner of a cell phone store, said he was walking toward the New Baghdad bird market in southeastern Baghdad when the blast occurred, shattering the windows of nearby stores.

"I ran toward the bird market and saw charred pieces of flesh, small spots of blood and several damaged cars," Muhsin said, adding he will no longer visit the Friday market. "I thought that we had achieved real security in Baghdad, but it turned that we were wrong."

The number of Iraqi civilians and security forces killed in January fell to at least 599, an Associated Press tally showed, the lowest monthly death toll since December 2005, and continuing a downward trend since the fall. The figure as tabulated by Iraqi officials in the ministries of Defense, Interior and Health was slightly lower, at 543.

U.S. forces, meanwhile, have expanded offensives in central and northern Iraq, seeking to build on gains against al-Qaida in Iraq in the past year. But the latest campaigns also have driven up the military's death toll after months of decline.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday—one by a roadside bomb in Baghdad and another by a rocket or mortar attack on a convoy support center south of the capital, the military reported.

The attacks raised to at least 39 the number of U.S. troops who died in January—well above the 23 in December but still sharply lower than a year ago. In January last year, 83 soldiers were killed in Iraq.

___

Associated Press writers Hamid Ahmed and Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

"A VERY PRIVATE MATTER?"


Parents battle over life of brain-damaged daughter
Lauren Richardson, 23, has been in a persistent vegetative state since taking an overdose of heroin in August 2006

By SEAN O'SULLIVAN, The News Journal
Posted Thursday, January 31, 2008

In a case with parallels to the 2005 uproar over Terri Schiavo, a Newark father is fighting a court order that could allow the removal of a feeding tube and end the life of his brain-damaged daughter.

"She's committed no crime and doesn't deserve to have this death imposed on her," said Randy Richardson, 52, on Wednesday.

According to court records, Lauren Marie Richardson, 23, is in a persistent vegetative state following a heroin overdose in August 2006. She was pregnant at the time and was kept alive at Christiana Hospital -- with feeding tubes and a breathing machine -- to allow her to give birth, which she successfully did in February 2007 to a healthy baby girl.

Late last week, a court awarded guardianship of Lauren Richardson to her mother, Edith Towers, who maintains her daughter did not wish to live this way and seeks to end artificial life support measures.

Randy Richardson has appealed a ruling by Delaware Court of Chancery Master Sam Glasscock III, putting any action on hold until the court's chancellor or a vice chancellor reviews the ruling, a process that will take at least three months.

Once that ruling is made, one side or the other may be able to appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court.

While the case is similar to the one involving Schiavo, legal experts said that matter did not set any precedents Delaware has to follow.

"That was a case about Florida law," said Drewry Fennell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware.

In the Schiavo case, her husband, Michael Schiavo, waged a seven-year legal battle to end life support for her, stating that she did not want to live by artificial means. Schiavo's parents opposed removing a feeding tube. A lower court and later the Florida Supreme Court sided with Michael Schiavo. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately declined to intervene and in March 2005, the tube was removed. Terri Schiavo, 41, died 13 days later.

Lauren Richardson, a Glasgow High School graduate, did not leave a "living will" stating her desires in such a situation, or use a mechanism in the Delaware law called an Advanced Health Care Directive, a simple form a person can fill out to make their end-of-life wishes clear.

Randy Richardson acknowledges that the daughter he knew before her brain injury is gone. But, he said, she is still alive and responds to him. He said she has made progress since her overdose -- she no longer needs a ventilator to breathe -- and given more time and therapy that can continue. "We just want to give her a chance," he said, adding he is not talking about extreme measures.

He also said she should be kept alive for the sake of her 1-year-old daughter, and is concerned Towers, his ex-wife, has not allowed Lauren and her child to see each other.

On Wednesday, Richardson and the Delaware Pro-Life Coalition Inc. released a video of Lauren taken recently at The Arbors, a nursing home near New Castle, where she is receiving treatment. In the video, Lauren appears to respond and react to family members and a dog.

"There is no life support except ... a feeding tube," Richardson said, adding he has been told that with the proper therapy, his daughter could be taught to eat.

He said he would like to take her home and allow her to live out whatever is left of her life with dignity and not have it end in slow starvation with the removal of a feeding tube.

'A very private situation'

Lauren's mother declined comment through her attorney William A. Gonser Jr. beyond a brief statement on Wednesday: "This is a very painful, very sad and very private situation and both sides have suffered greatly."

In court, Towers argued that her daughter told her and others, at the time the Schiavo case was in the news, that she would not want to live that way.

According to court records, Towers recalled her daughter saying, "Don't ever leave me hooked up to life support. I would not want that. I think it is horrible. I think that I do not ever want to be kept on life support if the doctors say there's no hope."

Towers testified that she then promised her daughter she would not and made her do the same if she ever ended up in that situation.

An uncle also testified, according to the ruling, that in a separate conversation Lauren told him such an existence would be "gross" and she wouldn't want to live like that with others caring for her.

Richardson, who divorced from Towers when their daughter was young, disputes the accounts, saying Lauren was living with him at the time and expressed no such wish.

The court ruling indicates Lauren moved around among relatives.

Richardson said his former wife never mentioned his daughter's statements about life support and the Schiavo case before she filed for guardianship.

He also said his daughter made clear other end-of-life matters -- like her wish to be an organ donor -- but did not write a "living will" or state her opposition to life-support measures in her journals. Richardson also said his daughter had expressed anti-abortion sentiments, as in the case of her then-unborn daughter when she was encouraged to get an abortion.

Towers has temporary custody of Lauren's child, but Richardson said a second guardianship case is pending on that issue.

A difficult decision

In his Jan. 24 decision, Glasscock wrote that he believes both parents were fit to be Lauren's guardian and both love her and wish for what is best for her. However, he found that testimony presented by Lauren's mother was "clear and convincing" about her wishes and the evidence "presented by Lauren's father does not change this conclusion."

As for Lauren herself, Glasscock wrote, "All the medical evidence supplied by the physicians -- by the independent neurologist and by Lauren's own doctors -- is in agreement: Lauren is not in a coma but is in a persistent vegetative state. A large portion of her brain was destroyed by a lack of oxygen following a heroin overdose of August 2006. She is unable to communicate or experience consciousness. Her continued existence is dependent upon tube feeding and hydration. ... No improvement in her condition can be expected."

Richardson said he disagrees and, in addition to filing an appeal, reached out to several groups for assistance, including the Delaware Pro-Life Coalition, which organized a prayer vigil Wednesday outside The Arbors. About 25 people turned out, some carrying pictures of Lauren.

Richardson said the vigil was not protesting The Arbors, where he believes his daughter is being treated well.

Fennell, of the Delaware ACLU, said it is a sad situation for all involved but the system appears to be working the way it was intended.

Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed. Delaware is a state that does not require living wills or other written documents to allow for someone to be removed from life support, he said. It is among the states that allow verbal testimony from friends and family about what the patient would have wanted.

"There will be a scramble with each parent locking horns, trying to find friends and relatives who she said things to about this issue," he said.

Caplan said the ruling giving guardianship to the mother makes it tougher for the father to make his case.

"The burden will be on the father to prove the mother is not emotionally or psychologically qualified to act in the best interest of the daughter, and reflect her true values," he said.

Outside The Arbors on Wednesday, Richardson said he waited 17 months before saying anything publicly. "We didn't want to do this. It is not in my nature to speak to newspeople. ... But if I don't, who will? I love my daughter."

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