Moral issues

Contact: Rebecca S. Jones of Concerned Women for America, 202-488-7000 ext. 126

WASHINGTON, March 8 /Christian Wire Service/ — Concerned Women for America (CWA) commends Rep. Dave Weldon (R- Florida) and Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Florida) for introducing the Incapacitated Persons Legal Protection Act (HR 1151, S 539) in an effort to save the life of Terri Schiavo, whose husband intends to begin starving her to death on March 18 by removing her feeding tube.

This Incapacitated Persons Legal Protection Act will provide the same protection for disabled individuals like Terri as the law extends to convicted felons the right to independent counsel and effective legal representation. It also recognizes the due process protection of habeas corpus appeals for disabled individuals who are the subject of a court order to affect their death by removal of nutrition, hydration or medical treatment. Hopefully, this law will enable Terri’s parents to have standing as their daughter’s “next friend” to file a habeas corpus petition on Terri’s behalf.
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Congressman David Weldon (R-FL), a medical doctor, plans to introduce legislation titled the Incapacitated Person’s Legal Protection Act (Terri’s Law), which will hopefully help save Terri Schiavo’s life. The legislation would give Terri and others in similar situations the same constitutional protection of due process as death row inmates. Already this week, attorneys for Terri’s parents have filed six different motions to help save their daughter, all of which are now on appeal. Dr. Weldon’s legislation would allow Terri to have her own counsel who can argue her case, a right given to any criminal in the United States.

Terri is, of course, not a criminal but a woman fighting for her life. As Terri’s fight intensifies, I cannot be more frank on the fate of this poor woman if her husband has his way. If Terri’s feeding tubes are removed, she will face a slow death through starvation, which can take anywhere from 7 to 30 days. Terri’s parents, as do Congressman Weldon a nd I, truly believe Terri is alive and deserves to continue living. Please call, e-mail, AND fax your U.S. representative to support Terri’s Law — truly life-saving legislation. Time is of the essence.

Beyond legalities, what does Terri face?

“A conscious [cognitively disabled] person would feel it just as you or I would. They will go into seizures. Their skin cracks, their tongue cracks, their lips crack. They may have nosebleeds because of the drying of the mucus membranes, and heaving and vomiting might ensue because of the drying out of the stomach lining. They feel the pangs of hunger and thirst. Imagine going one day without a glass of water!

Death by dehydration takes ten to fourteen days. It is an extremely agonizing death.
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If this is true the Catholic Chuch is in grave trouble.
By Julia Duin THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Starting today, 290 of the nation’s Catholic bishops will meet at the Capitol Hyatt for their yearly business meeting and to tie up loose ends on the massive sexual-abuse crisis that has shaken the U.S. Catholic Church to its core in the past two years.

Although it’s been less than a year since the church revealed that there were 10,667 cases of abuse committed by 4,392 priests in a 50-year period, the message at the meeting will be that the crisis is under control.

Read the entire article on the Washinton Times website.

MY BIG FAT “SINGLE-ISSUE” VOTE

Orlando Sentinel, Saturday, August 7, 2004, Gina Holland

Atlanta — Judges are on the front line of battles about legal rights for same-sex couples and should never belong to an organization that discriminates against gays, supporters of a proposed change to American Bar Association ethics rules argued Friday.

Judges are already prohibited from joining clubs that discriminate based on race or sex. An ABA panel is debating whether to make groups that discriminate against gays off limits as well.

The ABA, the nation’s largest lawyers’ group, with more than 400,000 members, writes conduct rules for judges and lawyers. States and federal courts generally adopt them, with some changes.
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