Con

“There is no intellectually honest way to portray what occurred in the Schiavo case as anything but ‘Euthanasia by omission’ as Pope John Paul II described it in his 2004 allocution… The 2004 Papal teaching specifically addressed the issue of persistent vegetative state (PVS) and the moral necessity of providing sustenance as part of basic supportive and humane care, not extraordinary medical intervention…

While it is completely understandable and appropriate that people wish to be compassionate to those who suffer with PVS…ending their lives by dehydrating them to death is not a morally licit way to do so…

I feel the duty to reaffirm strongly that the intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being do not change, no matter what the concrete circumstances of his or her life. A man, even if seriously ill or disabled in the exercise of his highest functions, is and always will be a man, and he will never become a ‘vegetable’ or an ‘animal’…

Even our brothers and sisters who find themselves in the clinical condition of a ‘vegetative state’ retain their human dignity in all its fullness. The loving gaze of God the Father continues to fall upon them, acknowledging them as His sons and daughters, especially in need of help.”

Mar. 8, 2006