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April 2005
Dear Friends,
In view of the recent events surrounding the case of Terri Schiavo, I think it has become more and more obvious that there is a clear division between the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death. Those who protect and defend the right to life versus those who protect and defend the so-called right to die. ( Or, in the case of abortion, the right to kill.) The basis for the right to abortion has long been two-fold: There is a constitutional right to free choice, and there is a constitutional right to privacy. I am stricken by the obvious lack of consistency of ethics in the case of Terry Schiavo. Did she not have the right to choose what to do with her own body? Did she not have the right to privacy in that choice? Obviously, since she could not speak for herself at that point, and there was so much disagreement over what her true wishes may have been, she was at the mercy of the law and the interpretation of it by judges and lawyers. In the same way, the unborn have to depend on others to speak for them. I do not pretend to be an authority on the true facts of the case, nor do I claim to have known the mind of Terri Schiavo. My instincts tell me that food and water are not medical care, and therefore what is normally given to every other creature based on need seems obviously to have been her natural right, as well. How is the feeding tube so much different than the umbilical cord or a baby's bottle?
I will also admit that I question the motivation and integrity of her husband, Michael, who would not lose anything, and in fact would earn the respect and gratitude of many who were watching the case, if he would only have granted guardianship to her parents and let them follow their hearts. In the end, however, we as a nation must have learned a great deal from Terri Schiavo. Ultimately, this may have been the purpose of her life and of her struggle: To point out to us that every life is valuable to someone, no matter how simple and seemingly worthless it may seem to some others. One of the good things that has come from this total mess is that we now have open debate on the pros and cons, on the various aspects of the end of life care that we may all need some day. If we have learned nothing else,
then we know that we are ignorant as a nation on the law and the ethics of end of life care, and every one of us now must realize that it is time to educate ourselves on the subject and put our own wishes in writing. Maybe this, more than anything else, is the time for a right to choose and a right to privacy. A person's death, after all, is his own and no one else's. The obvious difference between this and abortion is that the choice could be made by those who are dying. What do you think the 4000 unborn babies who die in America every day would choose? What are their wishes? Maybe we should appoint legal guardians for them, and take the choice away from the culture of death that seems to prevail in this country. Unfortunately, it is too late to do that for Terri.
Lianna Karlin, President
Right to Life of Montana
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