"This is a Movement of Good Samaritans" -- Part One of Two

Editor's note. You will want to be sure to also read Part Two, which discusses PPFA's new mega-abortion clinic opening in Illinois, and to pass them both along to friends, family, and colleagues. Part One is excerpts from Cong. Chris Smith's speech to the Proudly Pro-Life Awards Dinner Tuesday. I truly wish all of you could have been there.

Let me begin by expressing my deepest appreciation and respect for the National Right to Life Committee for your extraordinary defense of human life, especially the most vulnerable among us--unborn children, the disabled and frail elderly.

The highly respected leaders of NRLC including: Dr. Wanda Franz, Dr. David O'Steen, Darla St. Martin, Doug Johnson, Jeanne Head, Jackie Ragan, Burke Balch, Olivia Gans, Karen Cross, Dr. Randall K. O'Bannon, Ernie Ohlhoff and Dave Andrusko, a great writer, are among the wisest, most compassionate and most persistent people I know.

No matter how many body blows they and the pro-life movement take, they simply never quit.  Never.

They combine the enthusiasm of a recent convert with the disciplined tactics of an accomplished, battle tested general.  They are, one and all, marathoners, in it for the long haul.  And thank God for that.

When we prevail in establishing a Culture of Life in America and around the world, it will be because of what was done here, by all of you in this room, when no one it seemed except for God himself was looking on or paying attention.

When we prevail, future generations of Americans will be hard pressed looking back on us to understand (as we are today of legalized slavery) how a society that boasted and bragged about its devotion to civil rights and children and even enacted great laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, could have utterly abandoned 49 million babies, to the abortionists as well as countless disabled persons to so-called mercy killers.

When we prevail--and that is when, not if--it will be because we earnestly prayed and fasted to an omnipotent God for mercy, healing, reconciliation and justice--but above all for mercy.

The pro-life movement is all about aggressively caring for the disenfranchised, the weak and the vulnerable and showing unconditional love--even for those who hate, despise and slander us and those we seek to protect.

You and I are part of the greatest human rights movement on earth.  For virtually every one of us, got involved in this struggle, and will remain involved, because we have refused to look the other way or be indifferent. 

This is a movement of good Samaritans.

We are our brothers and sisters keepers, we are proudly pro-life. 

No one exemplifies that more than the Schindler family whom we honor tonight. More on them in a moment.

As some of you may know, over the last 27 years as a member of Congress, I've been the prime sponsor of numerous human rights laws designed to combat human trafficking, end subsidies for coercive population control, free political prisoners and stop religious persecution and torture.

When I visit places like China, Sudan, Vietnam, Ethiopia, the Soviet Union (when it was the Soviet Union) to discuss these human rights concerns, the government always denies complicity in those crimes.  Yet even the most despotic regime, even the most ruthless dictators will agree, at least rhetorically, that these things are wrong--even evil.

Abortion, on the other hand, is the only human rights abuse that some have the audacity to market and promote as a human right.  It's Orwellian.

Rather than acknowledging abortion as violence against children and the exploitation of their mothers, groups like Amnesty International – the latest casualty – have gone over to the dark side.  In the process they join an all too large dishonor role, made up of those who have fundamentally betrayed the cause of genuine human rights preferring instead the cheap sophistry of the hard left; preferring instead the plausible over truth, preferring instead a culture of death over a culture of life.

You and I know that human rights are for all, regardless of age, race, disability, or condition of dependency; human rights aren't just for the planned, privileged or the perfect.

Jeanne Head knows all too well how certain U.N. agencies and high ranking diplomats are ratching up their promotion of abortion worldwide, packaged of course in a human rights wrapper, always looking to be integrated in the latest U.N. action plan or humanitarian initiative.  It is insidious.

On Capitol Hill, as well, the abortionists, like a pack of wolves in sheep's clothing, are ever on the prowl seeking to acquire more taxpayer funds by incorporating the good and the necessary in global health with the bad and unconscionable.  Even the President's HIV/AIDS initiative – proposed to double from $15 billion to $30 billion over the next five years – is at high risk of unwittingly promoting abortion.  Pro-abortion NGOs routinely apply for and get huge grants to establish medical clinics and health infrastructure in developing countries.  Make no mistake, these mothers need help – and lots of it – but not abortion.  While US funds are precluded from directly subsidizing abortion, as these groups become integral parts of a country's health care network, they are in a strategic and dangerous position to promote abortion from within.  Integration, a melding of the evil of abortion, into a package of services and health training is, in my view, the greatest threat to life in pro-life countries throughout Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia.

In the coming months, the White House and pro-lifers in Congress need to ensure that noble initiatives designed to avert disease and alleviate suffering aren't hijacked by the abortionists.

Tonight, we honor a family that both as individuals and collectively, has taken love and courage to new heights.  A family that never strayed from being their daughter and sister's devoted keeper. 

In this city where selfishness and ego are without parallel, the Schindlers – Robert, Mary, Bobby and Suzanne – give new meaning to words like compassion, love, loyalty, integrity, courage, selflessness, sacrifice and, in the way they've sought to help other disabled persons through their Foundation, public service.

Since 1990 until her court-imposed death by dehydration and starvation on March 31, 2005, the Schindlers fought heroically to save and enhance Terri's life.

Having suffered a still unexplained neurological injury to the brain, Terri's family wasn't even permitted to manage her care, instead the court empowered an estranged husband with her future.  He, the estranged husband repeatedly sought her death by starvation and dehydration.

The legal fight to save Terri went from the Courtroom to the Florida legislature to Florida's Supreme Court, to Congress, to the White House, and then back to Judge George Greer's court wherein he imposed the death sentence on a disabled young woman.

Two Bushes – George and Jeb – intervened, in word and with new laws, but to no avail.  It was one of the greatest single acts of injustice, impunity and cruelty ever committed by a court.

In a trial that began way back in January 2000, Judge Greer ordered Terri's food and hydration tubes removed.  The tubes were then replaced, removed again and replaced. 

Meanwhile, no less than 14 independent medical professionals, including six neurologists said that Terri was not in a persistent vegetative state.  Even if she was, starvation and dehydration is never an option. 

You might recall that among the most notable was Dr. William Hammesfahr, a board certified neurologist who personally examined Terri and not only declared that she was not in a persistent vegetative state but she was in an "alert state – able to follow commands, able to respond to language."

Of course the Schindlers knew this from their daily interaction with Terri.

Dr. Hammesfahr's professional opinion was that as a patient Terri wasn't in that bad of a condition relative to others and that patients who are a lot worse off than Terri got treatment.  Terri, he concluded "could get a lot better."

But the estranged husband with a misguided local judge in tow would have none of that and again ordered removal of the feeding tube.

Congress stepped into the fray with, among other initiatives, enactment of a bill designed to convey standing to Terri's parents to bring the case before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.  Sadly, all legal efforts failed.

I would note a couple brief points here. 

One, now-Speaker Pelosi failed to even vote.  Steny Hoyer, sponsor of the ADA and now Majority Leader voted "No."  Henry Waxman accused us of turning "the family's personal tragedy into a national political farce."

Senator Carl Levin, in a colloquy on the Senate floor, made clear that the bill must not contain any language or directive that required reinsertion of the feeding tube while the case was considered by the Court.  That, in my opinion was the egregious flaw in our remedy that might have been averted had we acted sooner.

We all know the rest.

For two weeks, the Schindlers were compelled to endure their beloved daughter and sister's death, simply because an estranged husband with the backup of a profoundly misguided judge said so.  Judicial Tyranny? You bet. And a gross violation of a disabled woman's right to life.

The Schindler's endured emotional pain on an unprecedented, unimaginable scale.  We all prayed for Terri – and the family – and still do.

Throughout their ordeal, I got to know Bobby well and joined in at press briefings as he lobbied Members of Congress for relief on behalf of his sister. 

I thought then as well as now.  What a brother.  Suzanne, what a sister.  What parents.  What a remarkable family. 

These people are truly the salt of the earth.

Finally, to spare disabled persons and their families the cruelty they were compelled to endure, the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation has become today a vital voice in educating, informing, motivating and defending disabled persons.

Recently, for example, the Foundation collected and sent thousands of petitions to the University of Florida demanding the University rescind its offer to pay $50,000 to Jack Kevorkian to address the students.

Bobby and his sister Suzanne have traveled around the country and around the world to fight euthanasia.  My wife Marie and I heard Bobby speak in Mexico City recently– he got a long standing ovation from over 600 people from Latin America.  On November 30th, he will be in Canada to address the largest international euthanasia and assisted suicide symposium ever.

To the Schlindlers, may God continue to bless, encourage and strengthen you.
As you defend the sanctity of every human life, know that the hopes--and dreams--of a generation of disabled people will benefit enormously from your witness and your work.

Part Two