What is wrong with the Christian Right these days?
The Terri Schiavo case spotlights the blatent and outrageous hypocrisy of the Religious Right in this nation, and the insane fervor to which they will stir when they feel it appropriate.
For them, of course - not for you.
First, we have the blatent and
outrageous exploitation of this poor woman's visage and her condition by her family.
Twice her family has violated orders of the court protecting her privacy by using her image in the national media to drum up support for their position - without her consent.Look folks, I know there's a raging debate about the right to die, or the right to live, as it were. And there are all sorts of subplots and subtexts here about who's a snake, who's a good person, who's done this or that.
But let's boil this situation down to the facts - the
undisputed facts.
- Terri has, for sixteen years, been in a persistent vegetative state. She has shown no medical improvement in her cognition. A CAT scan has shown serious and, in the opinion of medical doctors, irreversable deterioration of her cerebrum - that's the part of the brian that is responsible for consciousness. In other words, the part that makes you - you.
- This case has been the most-litigated right-to-die case in history. No fewer than four published appeals decisions have come out - each and every one of them giving her husband the right to dictate her treatment course - or withhold same. Four appeals to the US Supreme Court have been made (all turned down), and several to the Florida Supreme Court - all which have either been turned away or decided in favor of her husband.
- No court, despite literally dozens of filed motions, pleadings and suits, has found persuasive the argument that her husband has committed any wrong-doing, nor that he should be removed as her legal guardian. NONE. If such evidence exists, it would have been heard by now. PLEADING YOUR CASE IN THE MEDIA WHERE ONLY ONE SIDE IS PRESENTED DOES NOT COUNT.
Now, let's get down to brass tacks.
- The Religious Right continually makes the (persuasive) case for the sanctity of marriage. The law in all 50 states provides that if you are unable to care for yourself and leave no written directive, in order of preference your spouse, your adult children and then your parents may step in. Those who claim to be "conservatives" want to - THIS TIME ONLY - change this order of preference and PISS on the sanctity of marriage.
- We have a consensus in this nation that you have the right to refuse any medical treatment you do not want. This right is crucial to several faiths - specifically, Jehova's Witnesses, fundamentalist Protestants and Christian Scientists who would rather pray than receive chemotherapy, and others. If you have the absolute right to refuse medical treatment you do not want, even if it will kill you to do so, then that's the end of the discussion. If you are unable to speak to confirm these wishes yourself, the order of preference in which others may speak for you is given in (1) above - this is a SETTLED area of law.
Now we have the Congress making a mockery of these rights as well. By attempting to issue subpoenas compelling "testimony" of a person who is unable to function cognitively at the level of a newborn, the clear end-run around the intent of the law is crystal clear to anyone who chooses to look.
It is well past the time to stop this foolishness.
Terri Shiavo deserves our sympathy, and her parents and family deserve our prayers, as does she. However, her family deserves nothing other than derision and shunning for their blatent attempt to slander Terri's husband and undo two hundred years of settled law on the sanctity of marriage in this nation, along with the fundamental right to refuse medical treatment.
We all have a right to choose to die. The day that we stop respecting that right is the day that we have thrown in the towel on all human rights in this nation.
Without the right to choose to die, none of the other rights that we claim to hold so dear are worth a thing.
