PRO-LIFE NEWS IN BRIEF

By Liz Townsend

Appeals Court Orders Doctors to Examine Schindler-Schiavo

A Florida appeals court panel ordered five doctors to examine Terri Schindler-Schiavo to determine if it is possible for her ever to regain cognitive function, the St. Petersburg Times reported. She suffered severe brain injuries in a 1990 heart attack.

The doctors - - two chosen by her husband Michael Schiavo, two by her parents Bob and Mary Schindler, and one by both or appointed by the court - - will report to Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court Judge George Greer after their examination.

Greer will then decide whether to reaffirm his decision to grant Michael Schiavo's request that his wife be starved and dehydrated to death, according to the Times.

"We're just elated that Terri's going to get this medical attention," Bob Schindler told the Times.

The newspaper reported that Michael Schiavo had not previously allowed his wife to be examined by doctors chosen by her parents.

Greer first authorized Schindler-Schiavo's death in February 2001, and she was without food and fluids for 60 hours beginning April 24, the Times reported.
Her parents obtained a temporary injunction of the order and she was fed, but Judge Greer again ordered her feeding tube to be removed on August 28.

Greer later delayed that deadline until October 9. The three- judge appeals court panel extended Greer's deadline indefinitely before making its October 17 decision.

Michael Schiavo's attorney George Felos told the Times it could take nine months or longer for the doctors to complete their examinations and for Greer to hold a hearing and make a ruling.

Felos added that Schiavo is not happy that the case has been delayed again.
"But my client's first reaction is: bring on the doctors," Felos told the Times.
"He doesn't think it's going to make a difference if one or five or 500 doctors examine her. The conclusion will be the same. She's in a vegetative state and has no hope of recovery."

The Schindlers disagree strongly with this description of their daughter's condition.

They have already presented testimony from nine doctors who saw videotape of Schindler-Schiavo and determined there was hope of improvement if she received proper therapy, the Times reported.

The Schindlers said that they welcome the chance for doctors to make a direct physical examination of their daughter.

"Before you put someone to death because of a medical condition, it's a good idea to ascertain what that medical condition is," Schindler attorney Pat Anderson told the Times.

"Choose Life" License Plates Approved in Alabama

Alabama has joined the growing list of states whose legislatures have approved "Choose Life" license plates.

The state's License Plate Oversight Committee authorized the plates on a 6-3 vote October 23, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Florida is the only state that has begun sales of the plates. They have been approved in both Louisiana and South Carolina, but pro-abortion groups have filed lawsuits to stop their sale.

In Alabama, the plates cost $50, with $41.25 of each sale going to groups that help women in crisis pregnancies who want to keep their children or make an adoption plan.

The plates will "raise awareness and consciousness," local pro- lifers agree.
The license plates, which feature the "Choose Life" slogan and a child-like drawing of a boy and a girl, will be printed in Alabama as soon as 1,000 people place orders for them.

Pro-Life Group Files Suit against British Cloning Law

A British pro-life group is seeking a High Court review of a law passed by parliament in January authorizing human cloning and stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos. The court heard arguments October 31 against the law, which allows scientists to clone human beings for research purposes as long as they are killed within 14 days of their creation, CNSNews reported. Pro-lifers have described this as " clone and kill."

The ProLife Alliance argued that the new regulations, which were attached to the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, cover research that is beyond the scope of the act.

The alliance contends that the act applies only to human beings created by fertilization, not by cloning, which is an entirely different process.

"Cloned embryos have not undergone fertilization and no sperm are involved in their production; therefore they are totally outside the regulatory scheme provided by the Act," the ProLife Alliance said in a statement, according to the Associated Press (AP).

"As a consequence, the government has no way at present of controlling these new technologies, leaving us in a very vulnerable position as numerous rogue scientists press ahead with their plans to clone human beings."

Scientists create human clones by "replacing the nucleus of an egg with that of a cell taken from a person's body, then prompting it to grow into an embryo," the AP reported.

The British law allows the government to issue licenses authorizing researchers to create these clones and then experiment on them for two weeks.

After the ProLife Alliance filed its suit, an injunction was issued that prevents the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority from granting any licenses until the court case is over, according to CNSNews.