Governor Bush in Last-Minute Appeal to Save Life of Disabled Terri Schiavo

MIAMI, October 8, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With a judge’s order to remove the nutrition and hydration tube from disabled 39-year-old Florida woman Terri Schiavo looming on October 15, a flurry of activity to save the woman’s life has erupted.  Most significantly, on Monday Governor Jeb Bush filed an Amicus Memorandum into the federal proceedings of Terri’s case. Also in recent weeks a Canadian disabled activist began working with Canadian politicians to offer Terri asylum in Canada to protect her from what is being called the “starvation order”.  The memorandum cuts to the heart of the case seeking to “ensure that the Court consider the critical distinction between removing artificial life support and the deliberate killing of a human being by starvation and dehydration.”  The memo explains, “These are two different actions.  The first is performed according to state law and is allowed under Florida’s constitutional right to privacy.  The second is prohibited by the right to life enshrined in the Florida and federal Constitutions.”  Recently Terri’s parents requested to have the order to remove the feeding tube delayed so that their daughter could receive rehabilitative therapy to learn how to take nutrition and hydration orally once again.  Their request was denied, since Terri’s estranged husband, Michael Schiavo (who is involved with another woman) rejected any therapy for Terri.  Bush’s memo “submits that removal of the feeding tube without first determining by medically accepted means whether the plaintiff can ingest food and water on her own, with or without rehabilitative therapy, constitutes the deprivation of her life without due process of law.”  Meanwhile, on Thursday, an all night prayer vigil in support of Terri Schiavo will be held at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, in Tampa.  Terri’s parents and the priest leading the vigil, Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, have asked that supporters join in prayer so that Terri’s life will be spared.  See Governor Bush’s intervention:  www.zimp.org/100603ab.pdf   See related LifeSite coverage:  Canadian Disabled Activist Seeks to Grant U.S. Disabled Woman Asylum in Canada https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/sep/03092602.html