Terri Schiavo

Tuesday, March 22, 2005 10:30 pm Daniel J. Summers

At this point, it appears as though Terri Schiavo will be allowed to starve to death, on a court order issued at the request of her husband. This situation is particularly sad, especially with all the people around the case that disagree with the medical diagnosis that says she is in a persistent vegetative state. Opponents of her remaining alive cite the terrible precedent that has been set by Congress's weekend emergency session. I feel that the terrible precedent is allowing someone who should have long ago ceased being her guardian using a court order to, in effect, get away with murder.

This man whom she once married and with whom she planned to spend the rest of her life - this man has not been acting either as her husband, or in her best interests, for a long time. There have been reports from nurses that she is able to swallow Jell-O and liquids even without the feeding tube. He also secretly began living with someone else, and now has two children by her. He clearly wants to move on, and her parents clearly want to be her guardians - so why is he so bent on seeing her dead?

Other thoughts about this situation (that I won't fully develop, I'll just put them out there)…

• The one thing that we have seen in all of this is the incredible hypocrisy of the left. Abu Ghraib? Guantanamo Bay? Last I checked, we never starved anyone to death there. Yet, that's what's going to happen to Terri.
• For as long as I can remember being involved in the issue, the people on the other side of the “pro-life” movement have called themselves “pro-choice.” I guess, given their reaction to this case, they have now graduated to actually being “pro-death.”
• The difference between Michael Schiavo and Scott Peterson is that Scott got the job done quicker, but Michael won't be going to jail.

Others are much more eloquent than I, so rather than continue down this path, I'll link you to some of the better articles I've run across regarding this situation…

• Thomas Sowell - “Cruel and Unusual”
  The way Terri is being treated would be called “cruel and unusual punishment” if exerted on inmates in our prison system.
• David Limbaugh - “Prayers for Terri” and “More Prayers for Terri”
  While this is a complicated issue, we can all send up prayers for her and her family.
• Cal Thomas - “Schiavo Case Matters in Symbol and Substance”
  This case is not only important because a woman's life is at stake, but also because of the dangerous precedent it sets in a slide towards legalized euthanasia.