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The Starvation of Terri Schiavo and RU 486

For those of us who are pro-life, the Terri Schiavo case is a sick example of the culture of death gone haywire. Here is a woman who is being put to death based on the testimony of her husband that Ms. Schiavo would have prefered to die rather than live in her near-vegatative state. This testimony is controlling despite the fact that, if the radio reports are to be believed, he (among other things) took money from her settlement that was intended for her rehabilitation and pocketed it which, naturally, raises concerns that he is not really looking out for her best welfare. Ms. Schiavo's parents dispute his testimony and have been fighting desperately for her life. If they lose, the tube that brings food and water to Terri will be taken away, and Terri will begin the long, slow, torturous process of dying from lack of food and water.

Many people in the pro-life camp are fighting for her life, but it appears to be an uphill battle and the odds grow longer with each day. It appears likely that Ms. Schiavo will die a horrible death in the name of humanitarianism. Go figure.

Over at Resting on the Shepherd's Portico, a great blog by a fellow apologist publishing under the psudonym of Apologia Christi, there is a tie between the Terri Schiavo situation and RU-486. His blog entry for March 4, 2005 notes:

The RU 486 pill uses two synthetic hormones (misoprostol and mifepristone) to chemically induce abortions in women five-to-nine weeks pregnant. * * * "RU 486 blocks the action of progesterone, the natural hormone vital to maintaining the rich nutrient lining of the uterus. The developing baby starves as the nutrient lining disintegrates.[3]" [4]

In effect, the RU 486 has the same effect on the groing fetus as the removal of the feeding tube will have on Teri Schiavo, i.e., they both die from lack of nutrition, aka, starvation. If the horrors that await Ms. Schiavo make your stomach turn as they do mine, then I suggest that such horrors are occuring every day in the uteruses of women who have chosen to end the life of the baby inside of them through ingesting RU 486. Again, as with all abortion, the killing is excused because, in part, it is out of sight.

Apologia Christi has only started this essay and plans to complete it later. I, for one, hope that he does so in the near future.

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