SCHIAVO AUTOPSY REPORT EXPOSES LIES

PRESS RELEASE ** PRESS RELEASE ** PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
June 15, 2005

Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Contact: Rob Boston or Jeremy Leaming
www.au.org


SCHIAVO AUTOPSY REPORT EXPOSES LIES OF RELIGIOUS RIGHT, SAYS AMERICANS
UNITED

Florida Woman Had No Hope Of Recovery, Report Says

Results of an autopsy on Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman whose tragic
condition sparked unprecedented governmental intervention by
fundamentalist groups and their politician allies, debunk Religious
Right claims by proving that her condition was irreversible.

PRESS RELEASE ** PRESS RELEASE ** PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
June 15, 2005

Americans United for Separation of Church and State Contact: Rob Boston or
Jeremy Leaming www.au.org


SCHIAVO AUTOPSY REPORT EXPOSES LIES OF RELIGIOUS RIGHT, SAYS AMERICANS
UNITED

Florida Woman Had No Hope Of Recovery, Report Says

Results of an autopsy on Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman whose tragic
condition sparked unprecedented governmental intervention by
fundamentalist groups and their politician allies, debunk Religious Right
claims by proving that her condition was irreversible.

In the weeks leading up to Schiavo's death, several Religious Right groups
asserted that she could recover from the persistent vegetative state she
had been in for 15 years. They claimed that Schiavo was responsive to her
parents and insisted that removing her feeding tube would be murder.

The autopsy results, released today, showed that Schiavo suffered massive
and irreversible brain damage and that she could not have been responsive
to outsiders because she was blind. Doctors said what appeared to be
responses were merely automatic reflexes.

"These Religious Right zealots owe the entire country an apology," said
Barry W. Lynn, executive director for Americans United. "They intervened
in a personal family matter, gave this poor woman's parents false hope,
libeled her husband with unfounded accusations and turned a tragic
situation into a political football. Have they no shame?"

Addressing a meeting of the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional
Restoration in Washington April 17, David C. Gibbs III, the attorney for
Schiavo's parents, implied that Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, had
strangled her. The autopsy also found no evidence that Schiavo had been
strangled or abused.

Lynn singled out Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council,
for special mention in the Religious Right Hall of Shame. During the
controversy over Schiavo, Perkins repeatedly issued commentaries that
referred to her husband as "estranged," despite the fact that Michael
Schiavo was caring for her, and mentioning the "questionable
circumstances" surrounding her collapse, clearly implying foul play.

At a closed-door FRC meeting in Washington March 18, House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay compared his own ethical problems with Schiavo's
situation, suggesting that both were victims of a plot by liberals
against conservative Christians. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist also
addressed the FRC strategy session and worked with the group to pass
legislation attempting to intervene in the Schiavo case. (Hear audio of
the DeLay and Frist comments here: www.au.org/press_audio).

"I've worked in Washington a long time, but I've never seen anything as
manipulative as what Perkins and the FRC did over Terri Schiavo," Lynn
remarked. "They took a terminally ill woman and turned her into a
political tool to gain leverage in Congress."

Concluded Lynn, "If this is an example of the FRC's holier-than-thou
values, I'll pass."

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in
Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans
about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding
religious freedom.

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www.au.org

You are invited to check out the following:

The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html

[and the discussion group for the above site listed below]

HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/

[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members]

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. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why
"a page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v.
Eisner, 256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921)
(Holmes, J.). Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445
(7th Cir. 1992) . . .

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