Catholic woman arrested for trying to bring water to Schiavo

Published: 2005-04-01

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CNS) -- Lana Jacobs, a member of St. Thomas More Newman Center Parish in Columbia, was thinking about the corporal works of mercy on her way to Pinellas Park, Fla., where Terri Schindler Schiavo lay in hospice, dying of starvation and dehydration: "Feed the hungry. Give drink to the thirsty. ..." Jacobs, newly appointed executive director of the national Consistent Ethic of Life Coalition, needed to go no further than that. She was arrested on March 22 for trying to take a bottle of water to Schiavo, who died March 31 after 13 days without food or water. Charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor, Jacobs was free in lieu of $250 bond. In a March 23 telephone interview with The Catholic Missourian, newspaper of the Jefferson City Diocese, Jacobs said the Schiavo case was not a political issue. "It's a human life issue. It's a disabilities issue. It's a feminist issue. It is not a 'right-to-die' issue," she said.

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