4th
Rush to an end in Schiavo case
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: April 4, 2005
In rushing to push a bill designed to keep Terri Schiavo artificially alive, Congress and President Bush have managed to disregard years of Florida’s judicial rulings and overturn decades of constitutional precedents.
Few political developments could be more frightening.
The case of 41-year-old Schiavo has been thrust into the national spotlight in the wake of her parents’ attempt to force a federal judge—for the third time—to restore the use of a feeding tube that has kept her alive for the past 15 years.
Her husband and legal guardian, Michael, has maintained all along that his wife would not want to be kept alive in her current state, and the courts of the state of Florida have supported his claim.
But social conservatives have convinced lawmakers that the case represents a significant test of American morality. As a result, Republicans are eager to jump at the opportunity to strengthen the support of their religious base before next year’s congressional elections.
Satisfying the pro-life agenda of the party has taken on greater importance to the GOP than enacting constitutionally-based legislation.
Doctors have repeatedly referred to Schiavo’s condition as a “persistent vegetative state,” but her parents have frantically sought a different ruling from the Florida state legislature ever since her husband originally filed a petition to remove the tube in 1998.
Florida’s Supreme Court declared measures such as “Terri’s Law” unconstitutional after the bill was forced through the legal system. Still, in an orgy of unseemly political grandstanding, Congress has stepped in and tried to force the feeding tube to remain.
Some contend that Congress’ actions ignore the separations of power written into the Constitution. But right-to-die opponents vehemently disagree. In fact, they have already begun spinning the husband’s intent into two cruel words that grossly misrepresent what is really going on.
Those words? Kill her.
But judging by the rulings and actions of the state of Florida, which is charged with defending a husband’s legal rights while determining exactly what is murder and what is not, the protestors are dead wrong.
By now, it seems everyone involved would have learned the lesson.
Nevertheless, protesters and religious leaders have gathered to support the position that no life should end prematurely.
Schiavo’s eyes are open, but those of her supporters are not. Years of court rulings have been drowned out with denial. So too has the sad truth of doctors saying there is no hope for recovery.
While Michael Schiavo already knows the truth, congressional members can’t resist the opportunity to create melodrama. On March 19, House majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas blustered, “We should investigate every avenue before taking the life of a living human being. That is the very least we could do.”
That’s certainly a terrific thought—one that we’d hope to hear our lawmakers keep in mind when they are, say, considering a rush to war.
But it seems everyone involved, particularly the president, congressional Republicans, and rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth religious conservatives, have their own agenda. And in supporting what they believe would be Terri Schiavo’s wishes, they risk setting a perilous precedent.
If our politicians gain the power to make our life-or-death decisions for us, who’s to say what they will want to determine for us next?
