“The case of Terri Schiavo raises complex issues. Yet in instances like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life. Those who live at the mercy of others deserve our special care and concern. It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued, welcomed, and protected – and that culture of life must extend to individuals with disabilities.” -– George W. Bush
Terri Schiavo is dying. Yes, we can keep her organs functioning with elaborate medical hardware, but whatever made her a person, instead of a lump of flesh, is gone. Let her die. Let her husband grieve and move on. Her parents have no right to ruin his life, or to keep their daughter suspended on the cusp of death just because they are unable to grieve and move on. All living things die. When people die before living a full life, we are saddened, but keeping a life-sized Terri Schiavo doll in a hospital bed to help ignore her death is deeply unhealthy, and wrong.
I was sick of the political circus raging around her death while it remained in Florida. The decision to take her body off life support was neither rash nor selfish; it was confirmed by considered, impartial court ruling. Yet politicians were willing to trample the separation of powers, and force themselves into what was already a painful event for Michael Schiavo in order to trumpet their devotion to life at all costs, including human dignity. Now that the dispute has entered the national forum, it seems only to get more bizarrely rhetorical and less coherent as senators try to twist it into a touchstone for unrelated national issues.
But the quote above has to be the height of hypocrisy, if only because it comes from the highest office in the land. This opinion comes from the same man who insisted on executing a death sentence on convicted murderer Johnny Paul Penry, despite Penry’s mental retardation. Did this not raise complex issues? Were there not serious questions and substantial doubts? Was Penry not an individual with disabilities? “I like the law the way it is right now,” said Bush, and Penry was put to death.
Mr. Bush has a long track record of ignoring complex issues, serious questions, and substantial doubts. He has no call to raise them now, when the simple decision is also the right one.