The Heresy Hunter

Terri Schiavo: Too Easy to Kill

Columnist Maggie Gallagher:

"It's not dying, or even being killed, that scares me. It's the willingness to kill. Even more, it's the way we are transforming killing into an act of compassion, a new human right.

"I know what human beings are capable of. And I don't mean just other human beings; I mean myself, too. What scares me most about Terri Schiavo is how easy it is to lose the horror at killing. Decent, civilized Romans left their newborn babies on the wayside to die of dehydration; it was just common sense. Decent, civilized Germans looked the other way when their government authorized mass murder. Progressive Americans in the 20th century supported forced eugenics and thought themselves compassionate and rational people for doing so."The feeding tube seems to be a fig leaf, the only thing standing between us and court-ordered killing of the profoundly mentally disabled. It's just a fig leaf. Will it hold?"

posted by Bob Hunter @ Wednesday, March 30, 2005