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Members of the Schindler family will be in attendance for the March for Life, the annual pro-life rally, to be held in Washington, DC on the 34th anniversary of the decision in the U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade.
The march normally follows a route which starts at the Ellipse of the National Mall and continues down Constitution Avenue. The march formally ends at the Supreme Court building. http://www.marchforlife.org/event/index.cfm
Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schindler Schiavo, will also be among the guest speakers for Blogs4Life, the second annual conference of pro-life bloggers which will be held in Washington on Jan. 22, prior to and after the March of Life. Sponsored by the Family Research Council, the conference is located just a few blocks from the March at the FRC's headquarters. http://www.blogs4life.com/
In addition to Schindler, this year's event will feature Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Tony Perkins, Ramesh Ponnuru, Joe Scheidler and Jill Stanek.
Blogs4Life is an annual conference for pro-life bloggers, organizations, activists, and readers and is open to all those who support the sanctity of human life.
The keynote address will be given by Ramesh Ponnuru, senior editor at National Review and noted author of "The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Media, the Courts and the Disregard for Human Life". Blogs4Life will include a capstone session of an ongoing virtual symposium and various workshops ranging from online activism to stem cell research and end-of-life issues.
On Saturday, Jan. 20, Bobby Schindler, will be speaking at the Students for Life of American conference to be held at Catholic University of America. http://www.studentsforlife.org/wp/conference/
Bobby now works full-time for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation (www.terrisfight.org). He has been a passionate and outspoken pro-life advocate, specifically in opposition to the euthanasia movement, activist judges and pro-death lawyers and doctors. He believes that laws that set the groundwork for his sister's death were motivated by the expense of caring for the disabled and elderly. Bobby is also a staunch supporter of the pro-life movement's battle to end abortion.
"My belief is that we have shifted from what once was a 'sanctity of life' mentality to now what is a 'quality of life' mentality, whereas a nation we are deciding based on a person's quality of life when it's okay and not okay to kill someone, based on the disability."
He modestly says that he's doing nothing extraordinary, that any family would do what his family did to try to save the life of his sister.
"It still astonishes me that we fought for 15 years because we simply wanted to bring her home to take care of her", he said. "Society has taken a monumental shift to accept a quality of life standard…..thousands have been killed. It's happening every day".
Bobby explains that the evolution of the euthanasia movement has led to the legality of killing brained damaged patients who were expensive to care for by classifying their condition as terminal and non-interactive and their care as artificial life support.
Since his sister's death on March 31, 2005, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed by court order, Bobby has left his teaching position and as spokesman for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, travels across the country, appearing in numerous speaking engagements, devoting himself to protecting other people with disabilities and raising public awareness about the growing threat of euthanasia.
Terri sustained serious brain damage in an unexplained collapse in February, 1990, that left her incapacitated. In the years to follow as the Schindler family battled her husband, Michael Schiavo in the courts to keep Terri alive, Bobby became the family spokesman. He addressed the nation through countless television, radio and print media interviews---the mainstream media which misreported the situation and was "less than sympathetic. As the urgency of Terri's situation grew, so did Bobby's efforts". After the feeding tube was removed March 18, 2005, from Terri at Woodside Hospice where she had been for five years although not terminal, Bobby traveled to Washington to personally intercede with members of Congress to try to save his sister's life.
The proceeds from Bobby's appearances go to the Foundation, established by the family in 2002 to fight for Terri's life. Today, the goals of TSSF are to educate the general public regarding current guardianship laws and state laws on death by dehydration and starvation, and on end-of-life issues and threats as well as provide support, both legal and material, and referrals to individuals with disabilities and their families.
TSSF and the TSSF Center for Health Care Ethics recognize the dangers associated with end of life decisions and provides the tools that are necessary for families to address these decisions with the committed belief that all human life is sacred. 1-12-07
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© 2007 North
Country Gazette
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