Staunch pro-death advocates applauded court refusals to reconnect Terri Shiavo’s feeding tube over the weekend. The court hearings were seen as last-ditch legal efforts by Schiavo’s parents and pro-life groups to keep the brain-damaged woman alive, but judges of the state court of Clearwater, Florida bizarrely sided with science over politics and religion, to the lament of fans of life everywhere.
Terri Schiavo has been in a persistent vegetative state since 1990, when prolonged blood loss to the brain brought on by heart failure induced her current condition. The case has become a focus for pro-life and anti-life groups, as Schiavo’s husband, based on alleged comments made by Schiavo before her condition started, wants his wife’s feeding tube removed, and her parents want her to live a long, long time. While most medical specialists have concluded Schiavo will never recover, doctors who put their religion convictions ahead of flimsy scientific evidence have come to bat for the parents, saying Schiavo demonstrates some degree of awareness of her environment. The woman’s feeding tube was removed March 18, the only means for pro-death advocates to euthanize patients under current laws.
The Schindlers, Schiavo’s parents and the key speakers on the pro-life side of the debate, have brought aboard anti-abortion-rights activist Randall Terry, who, since Schiavo cannot speak now on her own behalf, argues the woman must be fought for like a big fetus, despite claims by her husband, who knew her before the tragedy, that she would not want to be kept alive in such a state. The Schindlers have accused all judges who have sided with husband Michael Schiavo of being part of a “crusade to kill” his daughter.
Governor Jeb Bush, brother of the country’s most legal president ever, has in the past interceded on the Schindlers’ behalf to reconnect Schiavo’s feeding tube on one of the many occasions it’s been disconnected, but legal efforts by the Governor have so far failed to pass muster with the Florida Senate. Though he has not taken more direct, controversial action as of press time to keep Schiavo alive, Bush’s sentiments are clearly pro-life.
“I’ve consistently said I can’t go beyond what my powers are and I’m not going to do it. There are 90,000 abortions that take place in this state every year. That troubles me more than I can ever describe,” said the Governor, finding a comparison where few would dare. Bush also negatively compared the decision of Judge George Greer not to reverse his decision, based on the testimony of a doctor affiliated with the Schindlers, to court decisions to review death penalty cases.
On the pro-death side, representatives for Michael Schiavo pleaded with the media and legislators to not involve themselves in the family’s most painful ordeals for the sake of political or religious agendas, and for the love of God, quit calling them “pro-death advocates.” The media responded by splashing the story, covered from multiple angles, on page one of every national newspaper and running constant updates in between television shows. Politicians responded by making resentful speeches and making deals in the House and Senate over the woman’s future. When asked if anyone in Congress planned on interceding to bring soldiers home from Iraq, Afghanistan, or other dangerous locations overseas, most Congressmen said it didn’t seem like any of their business.