Mrs. Schiavo’s death sentences and murder by United States state and federal courts are a true American and moral tragedy, but her death will not be in vain. Her sacrifice has highlighted several problems in our current American ‘justice’ system.
First, the primary purpose of a court should be to protect the innocent, to protect life. No one is more innocent than Mrs. Schiavo yet the courts have decided that she must die.
Second, the courts should do the ‘right thing.’ Her parents have pleaded with court after court not to kill their daughter yet these courts have decided that Terri Schiavo must die. How can the court’s decision trump that of a parent’s when it comes to sparing an innocent daughter? Her parents have been acting in Mrs. Schiavo’s best interest.
Third, Mrs. Schiavo’s husband has not been acting in her best interests. However, because he is her husband he has standing before the court they have sided with his argument. Because Michael Schiavo has been living with another woman, his fiancée, with whom he has father two children out of wedlock, his motivation, at a minimum, is tainted. He argues, “That Terri would not want to live this way,” although there is nothing written anywhere to this affect. Mrs. Schiavo comes from Roman Catholic family where life if cherished and is considered a gift from God. Yet her husband also argues that she has forsaken a key tenet of her religion. But it is not for Man to judge the motivations, or actions of Michael Schiavo for he will be judged soon enough.
Finally, why has Mrs. Schiavo been sentenced to death? Why, because she lives in the United States and falls under a so-called justice system that likes to legislate from the bench when it chooses, and to kill the innocent when it is convenient. Why is it that a dog or horse that has been starved is taken by the state to a safe-haven and the owner charged with neglect, but when an innocent human being is involved she is left to die, not like a dog, but something far less?
Such a cruel and inhumane death as has Terri Schiavo now been sentenced would never be permitted for a murderer on death row scheduled for execution. Can you imagine the uproar in this country and the courts were a convicted killer to be deprived of food and water and left to die?
The court system in this country is a disgrace and Americans should be so ashamed of it as to require major reform. If courts in this country will not protect the innocent, protect life, and do the right thing, then we should consider abandoning this institution in favor of some new mechanism that does accomplish these moral goals.
© Mount Vernon Institute 2005