Terri Schiavo’s Parents, Estranged Husband Wage Media Battle

Bioethics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 19, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Terri Schiavo’s Parents, Estranged Husband Wage Media Battle Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 19, 2005

Pinellas Park, FL (LifeNews.com) — Terri Schiavo is on the first day of the 7 to 10 day process of her starvation death and her parents and estranged husband took to the media to each make their case. Terri’s parents said it was wrong to kill their daughter and Michael Schiavo claims the painful death is what Terri would have wanted.

Mary Schindler rarely speaks to the media about her daughter, but she told reporters and dozens of supporters gathered outside Woodside Hospital where Terri lives that she loves her daughter.

"We laugh together, we cry together, we smile together, we talk together," she said. "Please, please, please save my little girl.”

Meanwhile, Michael made the rounds of the morning television talk shows on Saturday.

"I am 100 percent sure," that killing Terri is the right thing to do, he told NBC’s "Today" program.

"I felt like she was finally going to get what she wants, and be at peace and be with the Lord,” he said of removing the feeding tube. "I have a sense of relief for Terri," Michael Schiavo told. "I feel that this is her time. This is going to work for Terri. She’s going to finally be at peace."

However, the Schindlers pointed to statements from dozens of doctors, including expert neurologists, who say that Terri could recover if given medical care and rehabilitative treatment that Michael has denied her for years.

"Our family’s intention from the beginning … has been one and one thing only — and that’s to bring Terri home and make her part of the family and take care of her again," Robert Schindler, Terri Schiavo’s brother, told CNN on Saturday.

If she were allowed home, he said, "people would see how alive Terri is — how alert she is and that we are going to starve a human being to death that is simply disabled."

Michael blasted pro-life groups and lawmakers working to protect Terri claiming they were disingenuous and seeking only political gain.

"These people are pandering for votes. That’s all,” he told NBC.

"They should be ashamed of themselves," he said in an interview with the CBS "Early Show." "Leave my wife alone. Leave me alone."

Related web sites:
Terri Schiavo’s parents – https://www.terrisfight.org