In his Easter Sunday televised sermon and in a CNN appearance that same day, the Rev. Jerry Falwell compared his recent bout with viral pneumonia to Terri Schiavo's condition.
From Falwell's March 27 televised Easter sermon, broadcast from his Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia:
FALWELL: Terri, who is not on life support, has never been on life support, she had a feeding tube in. A month ago, I had a feeding tube and I was on a ventilator, but I was not in a persistent vegetative state -- many people go through that. And Terri, Terri was not -- is not unconscious. She is aware, she's limited, she's unable to say and do as once she did, but she has a mother and father who love her.From the March 27 broadcast of CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer:
FALWELL: She has never been on life support. A month ago, I was on a ventilator to breathe, and I had a feeding tube down my nose, just like she. And thank the Lord, I'm out of it, and I preached two times this morning in my Easter services.
But I've already given my living will. Don't you dare pull the plug on me. I want to wake up in 14 years and say, "What day is it? What time is it?"
But I really think that the courts have been wrong --BLITZER: But Reverend Falwell, you can't compare, you can't compare, Reverend Falwell, the condition that you've been in -- and thank God you're OK right now -- to her condition. It's been years since she's been able to utter a word or anything along those lines. And all of the doctors, apparently, who have testified before various courts have suggested she's not going to improve.http://mediamatters.org/items/200503280007