A disabled woman lies in bed in Florida. She is unable to speak beyond a most rudimentary level. Florida courts have decided that comments she allegedly made in her early twenties are compelling enough that she should be starved and dehydrated to death. And yet this woman, 40-year-old Terri Schindler-Schiavo, is poised to strike a blow for religious liberty unseen in this country for decades.
Twice Starved
Numerous court battles have been fought trying to determine Terri’s fate. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, is so convinced that Terri will never recover that he has been engaged to another woman since 1997, and she has borne him two children. Yet many find him sincere when he claims that Terri would never want to live with any artificial assistance, including the simple feeding tube which supplies her daily nutrients. So strongly does he believe this that he has spent some $500,000 of Terri’s rehabilitation funds, money he could have inherited, on legal fees. Michael wants the courts to grant him permission to remove Terri’s feeding tube, allowing her to die rather than be sustained artificially.
Terri’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, do not believe that Terri would want to die. They believe that her sympathy for famous coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan is evidence that Terri would want therapy over death. “Where there’s life, there’s hope,” a friend remembers Terri saying in support of Miss Quinlan. Terri’s parents believe that with therapy, Terri’s condition could improve. They also love her enough that they’re willing to care for her even if she never improves at all.
Twice in the last five years, Terri’s starvation death was begun by court order. Both times Terri survived, rescued by her parents’ determined efforts. In 2001, Terri survived 60 hours without food or water until her parents found evidence from an old girlfriend of Michael’s which was strong enough to convince a judge that Terri’s feeding should be resumed. In 2003, Terri lived through six days of starvation and dehydration until the Florida legislature passed Terri’s Law. This statute allowed Governor Jeb Bush to order a new feeding tube for Terri.
A weaker woman would most likely have died after six days without food and water. It is a testament to Terri Schindler-Schiavo’s strength that she survived this ordeal with no lasting health problems.
It’s Natural!
But on September 23, 2004, the Florida Supreme Court struck down Terri’s Law as unconstitutional, saying that it violated Florida’s strict separation of powers. This decision would have cleared the way for Terri’s feeding tube to be removed yet again, but her parents have continued to fight for her in court. And Pope John Paul II may be the hero who saves Terri Schiavo’s life.
On March 20, 2004, the pope delivered a speech concerning “Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State” in which he stated that “the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act” (emphasis in original). Even more forceful, the pope declared food and water to be “morally obligatory.” Moral theologian Janet Smith has stated that this is the strongest possible language the pope could have used. His meaning is unmistakable.
Because of this clear and unambiguous teaching, Terri’s parents have informed the court that “Terri has now changed her mind about dying.… To find, in the face of this instruction, that she perseveres in a desire to die by dehydration and starvation is to find that she is willing to sin and willing to be disobedient to the word of God.”
A Point Given
In a motion filed July 20, 2004, Terri’s parents point out that Michael himself acknowledged the importance of Terri’s religion to the Court by introducing the testimony of Fr. Gerard Murphy. Fr. Murphy testified for Michael in January, 2000, that the permissibility of withdrawing Terri’s feeding tube was unclear in Catholic teaching. But Fr. Murphy also testified that a “Catholic is mortally bound to take advantage of ordinary [means].” No one then knew that the Catholic Church’s teaching would be so forcefully clarified at this critical moment in Terri Schiavo’s life. It is ironic that Michael Schiavo’s own witness laid the groundwork that a Catholic is bound to follow the pope’s teaching that food and water are morally obligatory.
Medical care is commonly modified on the basis of a person’s religious beliefs, such as when a Jehovah’s Witness refuses a blood transfusion. Terri’s parents are now asking the Florida courts to recognize Terri’s religious right to receive food and water, and that the previous decision to remove Terri’s feeding tube “now directly conflicts with her identity as a Catholic, and her fundamental right to freedom of religious belief and expression.” Indeed, in a previous court ruling, Florida courts found that “state power is no more to be used so as to handicap religions than it is to be used to favor them.” Thus Terri’s religious beliefs, now clarified by the pope, must be honored by the Court.
In affidavits supporting this motion, Terri’s dedication to her Catholic faith is lovingly detailed. Terri attended Catholic schools for twelve years, and her religious mementos have been preserved and cherished. When Terri married Michael, a non-Catholic, she sought and obtained a dispensation to do so, and they were married at a Nuptial Mass. Her last public act before her collapse was to attend Mass where she affirmed her belief in the Catholic Church’s teachings when she recited the Apostle’s Creed.
Just weeks before this, Terri and her father sweetly conferred about the importance of confession and avoiding sin. Bob states unequivocally that:
There is not a doubt in my mind that Terri would accept the pope’s teachings about euthanasia.… [T]here simply is no way that Terri would ask to have her feeding tube removed, in the face of the pope’s message. If she were to say otherwise, it would be an act of defiance and disobedience completely unlike Terri and completely at odds with her religious faith.
Lying in her bed, waiting for the treatments that can help her again communicate with those she loves, Terri Schiavo may yet change the world. Her case may force all courts in this country to recognize the religious rights of every one of us. After all, our Constitution guarantees that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Pray that the Florida Courts recognize that no one, no husband, no guardian, no attorney and no court, may force any of us to violate our deeply held religious beliefs.
© Copyright 2004 Catholic Exchange
Toni Collins is a convert to Catholicism, a church musician, and a freelance writer. She and her husband, Rick, are the parents of four daughters and live in Northern California. Her in-depth article “Dealers of Death,” which exposes the many of the irregularities in Terri Schiavo’s case, may be viewed at www.envoymagazine.com.
