Broken Masterpieces

October 17, 2003

Chuck Colson - Drawn Toward Death

From today's Breakpoint with Chuck Colson:

Drawn Toward Death
What Terri Schiavo Has Taught Us

BreakPoint with Charles Colson

October 17, 2003

For Terri Schindler-Schiavo, time is running out. The brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube was removed Wednesday after a Florida court refused her parents’ final appeal. At the request of her husband, Michael Schiavo, Terri was not permitted therapy that doctors say might have improved her health and allowed her to eat and drink on her own. Barring an intervention by the governor of Florida, whose legal team is trying to find some way around the court’s decision, Terri has less than two weeks left to live.

You may have followed the story in the media. It is a heartbreaking one—and frightening. The fight over her right to live, and our society’s reactions to that fight, illustrate just how cheaply we now hold human life.

As I reported two years ago on this program, Michael Schiavo’s fight to disconnect his wife’s feeding tube was marked throughout by dishonesty and conflict of interest. But over and over again, the burden of proof has been placed on Terri’s parents and siblings, who have fought for years to keep her alive.

Michael’s attorneys claim that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state, even though numerous doctors have testified that she is conscious and her family has videotapes of her responding to them. Additionally, her husband Michael has used money from Terri’s medical fund in his battle to end her life. And he has been engaged for several years to a woman who is now pregnant with their second child. Come on.

Despite all this, Michael Schiavo has won a long series of legal battles, including this last one. The courts and many in the media have been on his side, and the reason is clear: Michael Schiavo has made himself into a poster boy for the “right to die” movement. He and his lawyer—who is active in that movement—have insisted all along that they were acting for Terri’s benefit, trying to keep her from suffering. These days, that kind of argument is all it takes to win the sympathy of our society and our legal system. In a bizarre paradox, we’re now turning on our weakest and most helpless citizens in the name of protecting them.

Terri’s court-assisted murder—and that’s exactly what it is—is a perfect example of the clash of two worldviews. One holds that we evolved out of nothing, meaning that no human life is truly sacred. And as we continue to evolve toward some future hypothetical state of perfection, disabled people like Terri Schiavo have no place. Since she doesn’t meet the prevailing “quality of life” standard, we can do away with her as we please.

Unless Governor Bush acts in the next few days, Terri will starve to death. What can the governor do? He can, on the basis of reports of abuse and neglect filed with adult protective services, provide foster custody to Terri under the state of Florida. Call us here at BreakPoint (1-877-3-CALLBP) for information on how you can contact Governor Bush. Jeb Bush is a good friend of mine and a solid Christian. I greatly respect him, and I’m counting on him.

As my friend Joni Eareckson Tada, who is in Florida at the moment, writes, “ … we need the governor to step in. The state can provide foster custody to Terri and thus prevent this horrible course of action … this execution of a woman whose only crime is that she is mentally disabled.”

Take action:

Contact Governor Jeb Bush and urge him to intervene on behalf of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, providing her foster custody under the state of Florida. You can e-mail Jeb.Bush@myflorida.com or you can call: 850-488-7146.

I've not commented on this issue before but the more I learn the more I'm disgusted and join in the chorus of calling this action MURDER. This is just sick and we need to take some action. Let's contact Governor Bush and try and help save Terri's life. The absolute scariest part of this may be that Terri understands the actions being taken but can do nothing about it. We don't know what she's feeling. When in doubt CHOOSE LIFE.

Posted by Tim at October 17, 2003 08:43 AM
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