This morning I tried to call the office of Senator Jim King, the President of the Florida Senate. It took me a few tries to even connect, and then at around 9:45 I got a recorded message that began with a little speech to the effect of, If you are calling concerning Terri Schiavo, the bill was passed by the committee this morning and will go to the Senate Floor at 6:45. The message box was still full, so I couldn’t leave a message thanking Senator King.
This afternoon I received an email from Earl Appleby, a forwarded message from “Central Command”:
URGENT!!! SENATE AND TERRI’S LAW
The bill is being pushed back because of language. We need to keep the pressure on. Here are the contact details for Florida’s Senate.
But even if the bill passes, there’s more trouble ahead: George Felos, Michael Schiavo’s lawyer, has already filed for an injunction just in case the bill does pass and Governor Bush does sign it. Judge “Do you dare to question my decisions?” Greer is scheduled to hear that case this afternoon.
Meanwhile, here’s a nice reflection from Wesley J. Smith:
Will Terri live or die? That can’t be known. But this much is clear: The Schiavo case has changed everything. Our government leaders have been put on notice that tremendous numbers of people in this country are determined to halt the erosion of the sanctity/equality of life ethic in the practice of medicine. The routine practice of dehydrating the cognitively disabled who need a feeding tube–which occurs to the conscious and unconscious alike in all 50 states–is going to receive a badly needed review. The bioethics movement, which has been leading us down this treacherous slope, can no longer expect to pontificate from on high in medical matters of life and death and expect the people to just meekly go along.
In a sense, the Schiavo case is a miracle. Because so many people around the country and the world have come to love her, root for her, and yes, pray for her, our country has been given a rare opportunity to look at where we are heading as a culture and reinvigorate a simple moral maxim: When in doubt, choose life.