Contact: Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, 727-490-7603, infor@terrisfight.org
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, Feb. 27 /Christian Newswire/ -- In a presidential debate last night, Sen. Barack Obama, (D-Ill), said, for the second time this year, that he regretted supporting federal legislation aimed at saving the life of Terri Schiavo. He even suggested the legal efforts to stop Terri's death by dehydration and starvation constituted a "costly" action.
"We welcome the opportunity that Senator Obama has given us to once again strive for clarity regarding the death of our beloved Terri," her father Robert Schindler said. "However, we are very saddened by his remarks. Everyone with a disability, or who knows someone with a disability, should be outraged that a potential US president would so callously reject his own action taken in favor of life over death."
Terri's Foundation wishes to remind all Americans that the Senate gave unanimous consent to the effort to save Terri's life and that the vote was strongly bipartisan in the House. "As a country, we should all be distressed that doing the right thing suddenly becomes a 'mistake' when one poll later showed it to be unpopular," Schindler said. "That isn't leadership; it's pandering to popular prejudices."
"Is it so incredulous that a family had the 'audacity of hope' to believe its government would care about one profoundly disabled woman?" Schindler asked. "It is a shame that Senator Obama, who claims to embody 'hope,' is crushing it for the families of people with profound disabilities."
Terri was neither terminally ill, nor comatose. She was not on life support and only needed food and water to live. Persons with disabilities, no matter how serious, are persons with the Constitutional right to life.
"Highly visible public figures, especially those who may one day speak on behalf of all citizens, should not imply that some citizens are less worthy than others," added Schindler. "As President, would Barack Obama stand for all of us or just some of us?"
