Many of you know that I have been on the fence on abortion since 2011, when I realized I could no longer identify as even a non-traditional member of the pro-life movement. While I've been leaning pro-choice, the Marlise Munoz ordeal has pushed me all the way over the fence to the pro-choice side. And the religious right response to John Peter Smith Hospital having the good sense yesterday to end life support rather than continue an appeal that would have extended her agony further only confirms it. They actually maintain that even though Marlise was only disabled, not brain-dead.
Hours after a judge sided with Erick Munoz on Friday and ordered Marlise removed from life support, Operation Rescue's Troy Newman rushed out with a burning statement condemning the order (h/t to The Sheeping of America) saying that Marlise was only disabled. Well, hours after the plug was finally pulled, Newman doubled down.
It is despicable that dehumanizing and deceptive language was used to refer to Marlise as a “corpse” and her baby’s condition as “incompatible with life” in order to elicit public support for putting them to death.
A human being does not lose their God-given human beauty or dignity just because they are disabled or incapacitated. This case just goes to show how far we have slipped into the abyss of a Culture of Death and how intolerant we have become of those who are seen as “inconvenient.”
Um, Troy? Marlise was not just disabled--she was brain dead. And in Texas, when you're brain dead, you're legally dead. Even the hospital conceded this--for those who don't know, lawyers for both the hospital and the Munoz family agreed that Marlise had been brain dead since November 28. And you've got some nerve wringing your hands about human dignity. After all, if you had your way dead people who were pregnant would be turned into human incubators and left to sit on ventilators for who knows how long. I'd really like to know if you'd be willing to tell Erick Munoz and Marlise's mom, Lynn Machado (who supported the bid to end life support from the beginning) to their faces that Marlise should have stayed remained hooked up to life support even though her body was decaying (according to Erick--and there's little reason to doubt he's telling the truth). And need I remind you that your henchwoman, Cheryl Sullenger, essentially gave George Tiller's number to a guy off the street?
OneNewsNow appears to be keeping up this theme. It spoke with Texas Right to Life director Elizabeth Graham, who more or less harped on Newman's misinformation. To Graham's mind, district judge R. H. Wallace screwed up this case eight ways to Sunday.
"He just assumed that she was in fact dead which is very, very dangerous," she states. "And that way, by his summary judgment that she's dead, no other action needs to be taken by the hospital. And so he kind of circumvented any of the discussion by just saying the patient is dead so take the treatment away."
According to reports, there was no discussion of possibilities for rehab or keeping her on life support until the baby could be taken and given a chance to live. That bothers Graham greatly.
"And our concern too is either the law applies or it doesn't; and the law is very clear that you can't remove treatment," she explains. "He has set like 12 precedents just by his very careless mishandling of this case."
No, Elizabeth. Wallace didn't assume anything. He acted on a statement of facts agreed to by both sides, in which they agreed Marlise was brain dead. That agreement was pretty much the end of the ballgame--the law didn't apply to Marlise because she was legally dead. And even without that to consider, there was virtually no chance of this baby surviving outside of the womb--the baby had water on the brain and a heart problem, and its gender couldn't be determined even at that late stage of the pregnancy.
The more I think about it, this kind of claptrap shouldn't come as a shock. After all, the pro-life movement gives succor to crisis pregnancy centers that put out information that has been proven to be inaccurate--dangerously so in many cases. As I've seen this case develop, insisting that a brain-dead woman is merely in a coma and has a chance to recover is the logical end of the misinformation put out by these pregnancy centers.
The most perverse thing about this affair is that JPS knew Marlise was brain-dead, and yet continued to keep her hooked up to life support. If it is even remotely possible for a legally dead person to be forcibly kept on life support because she is pregnant, then there is no longer any doubt--the anti-abortion movement is merely a stalking horse to destroy the right to privacy. So call me pro-choice.
Almost as perverse as Marlise's two-month ordeal is the possibility that Erick may have to pay for life support that JPS has tacitly admitted was futile. Tell JPS not to make the Munozes pay a penny for this unwanted and unnecessary treatment.