Terri photo essay - looking back

HOLY WEEK - 2005





FLORIDA'S SHAME




AUSCHWITZ WOODSIDE


ANOTHER COURT SUPERVISED VISIT

Mary Schindler's Baby

March 31, 2005 – “Mine eyes have seen the Glory of the coming of the Lord,
he has trampled out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the fateful lightening of his terrible swift sword, HIS truth is marching on”. . . Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Mary Schindler’s Baby

The events of the past month have been a microcosm of the 15 year long struggle of the wonderful Schindler family to help their beautiful daughter and sister, Terri survive what seems to be a massive Pinellas Park, FL conspiracy against her life.

The agony I have experienced these few intense weeks, watching this court ordered execution, is miniscule compared to those who have loved her, have cherished her smile, her struggle to communicate, her touch. They have taught us well the notions of nobility, compassion, dignity, as well as fighting to the bitter end to save a life.

Against all odds, their loved one became an international celebrity and, like another with no such desire, Terri Schindler became the Roe v Wade of the euthanasia movement. Her state-sanctioned, court ordered starvation and dehydration murder had to be successfully achieved – and so the "powers that be" backed down from the fight for an innocent woman and the future of our nation.

It has been my privilege to have been involved in the biggest epic struggle of my lifetime, trying to spare Terri’s life and allow her to receive the therapy she so richly deserved.

My photos – taken at Hospice Woodside – captured this travesty and the thousands who tried to stop the madness. Never before in U.S. History has this heinous act been perpetrated upon an innocent woman, who had committed no crime. Our nation will pay a price. This bitter saga - carried out on the public stage for 14 days, culminated during Holy Week. The struggle separated the wheat from the chaff. The leaders of our country feigned sorrow about this “tragic situation” but were found severely wanting when it came to really saving a life.

Terri deserved better, her family deserved better, our nation’s children deserved better, our nation deserved better. President Bush and Governor Bush had a constitutional mandate to protect the constitutional rights of their citizens. They squandered it and now a circuit court “judge” is the most powerful man in the land. He has likely put the final nail in the coffin of our system of checks and balances.

A mother’s love for a baby she has carried never fades and can never be destroyed. Mary’s love was beyond measure – her dedication to the life she brought forth into this world has taught us all about the never ending quest to protect that life, despite the incredible cost. Her opponents have taught us about the macabre, the depraved and the demented.

Michael Schiavo plans to bury Terri’s ashes in Pennsylvania, once the evidence of possible abuse has been eradicated. The Lord, however, works in mysterious ways.

God have mercy upon the soul of this land!

"DeGette certainly doesn't speak for all women, or unborn women,"

"To put herself out there as a huge advocate for women, DeGette certainly doesn't speak for all women, or unborn women," said Leslie Hanks, vice president of Colorado Right to Life. "She's been a mouthpiece for the abortion industry."




DENVER — Voters are used to black-and-white political posturing: Democrats want one thing, Republicans another, they tussle in Washington then go home to tell citizens how the opposition is flat-out wrong.
So it's a bit surprising that on health care, one member of Congress who argued with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and even the White House was ... Colorado's longest-serving Democrat?

Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver emerged in recent weeks as the House's most vocal defender of abortion rights. She was in late-night negotiations with Democratic leadership. She kept a worn piece of paper in her purse to keep track of votes. She kept a letter signed by 40 Democrats refusing to support an overhaul that restricted access to abortion.


Read more at the San Francisco Examiner:

Woo Hoo - Amendment 62! Colorado Personhood amendment makes 2010 ballot

With deep gratitude to everyone who made it happen! The babies thank you!!!

Where are the hate speech patrols?

Seth MacFarlane marked the five-year-anniversary of Terri Schiavo's court-ordered death by staging a preschool musical about it in his crass FOX cartoon, "Family Guy."
MacFarlane denied Schiavo human dignity in the March 21 episode by referring to her in lyrics sung by cartoon preschoolers as "the most expensive plant you'll ever see" and a "vegetable," and noted "her mashed potato brains."

The child who played the role of Schiavo's husband, Michael, ultimately concluded, "There's only one solution, it's in the Constitution, we've got to pull the plug."

More . . .



Ms. Gail Berman,
President
Fox Broadcasting Company
askfox@foxinc.com

Dear Ms. Berman,

As an individual who spent most of March 2005 in front of Hospice Woodside, where Terri Schiavo was murdered, I cannot
tell you how ashamed I am of Fox Broadcasting for allowing your recent Family Guy episode, mocking a disabled woman, to assault your viewers. What cultural filth!

My 2 books of photos taken there show the real truth about those who came to oppose Terri's judicial execution. My photo essay captured the hundreds, if not thousands of people who fought valiantly to save Terri's life. Do you really want to mock them, for their noble sacrifice on behalf of an innocent woman who was being starved and dehydrated during Holy Week?

How ironic that Fox News prides itself on being "fair and balanced." If you think it is fair to defame a brain damaged woman and cause further pain to her remaining loved ones, I'm appalled beyond words.

I've always championed Fox as above the bias of mainstream media but I now plan to do everything possible to bring attention to this despicable trash and the program's sponsors.

Our culture is descending rapidly into the sewer and this kind of ugly and mean spirited programing is leading the way to an America where no one is truly safe and where those of us who seek to protect innocent lives will not want to live.

Fox Broadcasting has sunk to lows I never could have anticipated.

Leslie Hanks
V.P. Colorado RTL

"Endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights, that among these
are Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Personhood Works, Regulations Don't

By Ed Hanks

This is a more coherent recap & expansion on my earlier blog post on regulations, and why they undermine the Personhood of the unborn child -- "How We Compromise Ourselves."

I do not question the well-meaning intentions of those legislators who support, or even write, compromise legislation which tries to put limits on abortion in circumstances where a total abortion ban is not realistically possible. We can argue later about which is more "politically realistic" (I think Personhood is, still). But the fact that I believe in the good intentions of the pro-life regulators does not mean that I don't care whether they stop pushing regulations -- I do! -- or that I approve of what they're doing -- I don't! -- or that I will always continue to support regulation-minded legislators if they continue to ignore warnings about the unintended consequences of what they do.

I think the main thing “pro-life regulators” need to understand is that, whether or not Personhood is "practical" in a legal sense (which is the main objection of those pro-lifers who oppose the Personhood strategy, including Archbishop Charles Chaput and Clarke Forsythe of AUL), our primary problem as pro-lifers is that we've been making the wrong argument -- one which won't "change peoples' hearts" (which everybody agrees is the goal, and yet incrementalists are convinced they DO have the right argument).

More . . .

A True Inspiration

There are many saints in Colorado who stand in the gap for the unborn, but none as precious as Mary Henning. Mary was born in 1911; left home at 16, got an education, became a psychiatric nurse and married.

Mary became pregnant with her first child when she was forty years old.

But because she and her husband were struggling to make ends meet while caring for her aging mother-in-law they thought it would not be possible to care for an infant.

Mary went to her doctor and asked him to abort her child.

He refused to do the abortion.

So Mary had a little girl that she named Marie. Marie grew up in a loving home and eventually learned of the saving grace of Jesus and her name was added to the Lamb’s book of life. And when Mary was 62 years old Marie led her to the Lord.

Mary was no ordinary Christian. She hit the ground running. She was a willing servant in her church, a prayer warrior and faithfully protested against abortion at the Planned Parenthood in Denver. Mary openly told her story, always thanking God that she did not go through with the abortion because the daughter that she wanted to abort led her to Christ.



As Mary aged she needed a cane, then a walker to help her stand at the corner while holding her sign that said “You can still change your mind”. It was the first appeal seen by all the abortion bound mothers approaching the mill from the north.

Finally, Mary could no longer stand and needed assistance to reach her chair on the corner where she sat and resolutely held her sign.

After Mary’s 97th birthday it became too difficult for Mary to make it out to the picket line, so she prayed for babies to be saved and abortion to end.

Mary died March 2, 2010; she would have been 99 years old on the 17th of March. She ran the good race and today she’s with Jesus. Her testimony, dogged determination and love of Christ should inspire us all to follow in her footsteps…

See you in Glory Mary!

Jo Scott

If You, Twist And, Turn Away

By Andrew Longman

Shaking with fury, indignation, and sadness, I wept at the viewing of The Stoning of Soraya M, a movie that surprised me when I thought I could not be surprised.

The film is set in the Iran of the Ayatollahs, based on a true story, a million miles from the beaches of Los Angeles, where the Porches cruise and the plastic is visible at twenty paces in faces of awkward pixies. That's where I am now, reeling.

But where I expected Iran, and Mullahs, and sharia and injustice, I did not expect how utterly familiar this movie was. I expected foreign film; it starts with a French reporter, perfect. I thought to have never seen anything of the like, and to be outraged at the alien nature of the evil. I wasn't. I stared in familiar shock at intimate hoodlums. And I couldn't believe that I believe I'd seen it - sharp, slap, repetition.



In the passion of Terri Schiavo I remember a husband, brute like an unthinking slug, a cretin. I remember he was an abuser of women, a piker, a sloth. I remember that Terri's x-rays showed her many broken bones - the times she'd buttoned up her blouse and pressed on.

More . . .

"Time to let the babies reclaim their liberty" - 46,000+ signature turn in for Personhood CO 2010

"Our dedicated Personhood warriors in the field are stirring the hearts of Coloradans for the plight of their pre-born brothers and sisters.

The words of the Declaration of Independence are echoing across history to prick their consciences when they hear,

'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is time to let the babies reclaim their liberty and right to pursue happiness.

Thomas Jefferson said, 'The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction, is the chief and only object of good government.'

It is time for our government to attend to the basics and let our posterity live!"

"It's time to let the babies reclaim their liberty,"

DENVER -- Colorado abortion opponents say they have enough signatures to put an abortion-ending proposal on the ballot this fall - potentially the first state this election year to see the question.

Abortion opponents turned in more than 46,000 signatures on Thursday, the second deadline for the ballot initiative.

The group needs only about 15,700 of those signatures to be deemed valid for the abortion question to go to ballots this fall.

The amendment would give unborn fetuses human rights in the state constitution, setting up a likely conflict with the U.S. Constitution over a woman's right to abortions.

Personhood USA, the Colorado-based group pushing similar measures in 40 states this year, says it's waiting on Mississippi officials to clear signatures and approve an initiative for the ballot this fall. In Montana, abortion opponents say they'll make a June deadline for about 50,000 signatures needed to make the ballot.


More . . .

Colorado Personhood Amendment Submits 46,671 Signatures – Ensures Spot on 2010 Ballot

DENVER /March 18 – Personhood Colorado, sponsors of the 2010 Personhood Amendment, today submitted 46,671 signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.

On March 4, the Colorado Secretary of State disclosed that 20.63% of the 79,648 signatures submitted by Personhood Colorado were invalid. As allowed by Colorado law, volunteers then had 15 days to replace the invalid signatures with new, valid voter signatures. That translated to over 1,000 signatures per day.

“Over the past few days, the massive quantities of signatures that poured in just amazed us,” remarked Gualberto Garcia-Jones, co-sponsor of the Personhood Ballot initiative.”That means that we collected over 2,600 signatures each day, about 2 signatures per minute. Some of our volunteers were working all hours of the day, and that is a testament to what we already knew – that Colorado citizens recognize the value of human life and have worked extremely hard to see that each human life is protected.”

The 700+ volunteer petitioners worked around the clock to gather signatures, frequenting churches, grocery stores, Tuesday Caucuses, and other public venues. Many college age church volunteers circulated the petition at Colorado St. Patrick’s Day Parades and college campuses.

“We were told that we needed to replace over 15,000 of our signatures,” commented Keith Mason, co-founder of Personhood USA. “We knew we could do it, because when you are working on such a critical, life and death issue, volunteers are passionate. We knew it would take a lot of hard work and determination, but we never expected such an outpouring of support. It is clear that the people of Colorado wanted to make a statement – that every human life should be protected by love and by law. This effort is more alive and vibrant than ever.”

“We’re so thankful for help from American Life League, Durago-based pro-life group LifeGuard, Personhood USA, and dozens of other pro-life organizations. With their help, we faced a daunting task and succeeded beyond our wildest expectations, glory be to God!” added Leslie Hanks, co-sponsor of the Personhood Amendment. “Now, we’re ready to begin campaigning for life and preparing for victory in November.”

COLORADO PERSONHOOD WARRIORS! Urgent pre-caucus alert

Dear Pro-life Friends,
Colorado Right to Life urges your attendance at your precinct caucus this evening at 7 pm.

Our candidate survey results blog post is very revealing about stances on Personhood & other pro-life issues, please see the CRTL Blog:



Please insist that any candidates you support must support Personhood.

Also, you can print out and introduce the following resolution:

Be it resolved that the ________________ County Republican Party supports the passage of an amendment to the Colorado constitution to apply the term "person" to every human being from the beginning of their biological development. (Print out the resolution to bring to your caucus!) Have a fellow pro-life Republican prepared to second your motion to assure the motion will be voted upon and if passed proceed to the County and State conventions.

Please don’t forget to bring along your Personhood petitions to get signatures from those in attendance. Your bold stance for the babies will make you stand out in the crowd as someone worthy of carrying the message to the County Conventions and State Convention later this year. Run as a candidate to both!!

We praise God for your commitment to the babies and to the sanctity of life for all, from the beginning of biological development - through natural death!

Always for life and for the babies,

Leslie Hanks, V.P. Colorado Right to Life
Co-sponsor of Personhood CO 2010

"Endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights, that among these
are Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."