It is almost mind numbing to follow the Terry Schiavo case. What we have been witnessing is a battle to remove both food and water from a woman who is not brain dead, not terminally ill, not unresponsive. If the feeding tube is removed, which today may be again delayed by a 60-day stay to investigate abuse charges, we will have fully and completely crossed the line from abortion to active euthanasia, with all of America watching as if the whole mess is no more than a a typical reality TV spectacle. There can be no one in this country even casually aware of the news who has not seen images of this woman alive, moving, responding to her parents. Yes her "quality of life" is not what any of us would want, and yes her care is expensive in both dollars and human effort. But actively killing by starvation a human being for being less healthy than the rest of us is a line we simply must not cross.
I am not sure we realize the significance of this case. We have been traveling down the slippery slope for decades and this may mark a point of no return.
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