Terri Schiavo vs. Stem Cell Research

[MindLikeAParachute]

The GOP (I blame the GOP more than, say, the republican living next door), as you know, is doing everything they can to make themselves "the party of life", and the dems "party of abortion/death", as if they're lovers of life and we're not.

Someone on their side yesterday was trying to portray it that the husband should turn her over to "a family ready and willing to care for her".

The problem, of course, is that Terri is not in a coma (from which recovery is theoretically possible), but over the years she has lost her cerebral cortex - the thinking/feeling/memory part of the brain itself. It just ain't there - it's been gradually replaced by spinal fluid.

So she's not coming back. They can "take care" of the her for years to come - for 50 years maybe - and nothing's ever going to improve. It's tragic, because the brain stem keeps you breathing and the engine running (includes blinking), but it can't drive the car for you.

Now if the GOP was willing to fully support - aye, even advocate for - stem cell research, an argument could be made to keep her on. Science would do everything in its power to learn to regrow organs, including brains. As they consider themselves "the party of life", one would think this an attractive proposition.

Of course, in reality (in Terri's case, I mean) this isn't practical - even if we started this morning, and learned to regrow cerebral cortexes in a few years (and I doubt it would be that quick), she would have to start over from scratch - fresh from the start - relearning life as babies do. But the GOP would have succeeded in giving life back. It wouldn't be the old daughter they knew - but in theory, if you could regrow it, and rehabilite her body (which has atrophied), they would have a valid argument for not pulling the tube.

But they don't.

They have refused to allow stem cell research except under the most restrictive conditions, mainly, I think, because the most effective stem cells come from embryonic stem cells.

The irony here is huge - we have embryonic stem cells which aren't going anywhere - they're certainly not becoming babies in that sense of "life" - and at the same time we have an adult that needs to have an organ (in this case, the brain) regrown in order to have a life.

They're fighting tooth and nail to keep a body alive that physically and mentally will never be improved upon, at least without some regrowth, possibly only with stem cells, and yet they're also fighting tooth and nail to prevent embryonic and fetal stem cell research.

You know what? I think we ought to say to them - "Sure! You can have the feeding tube reinserted - but you have to agree to fully support, fund, and advocate for, all forms of stem cell research.

"The only way she's might ever have a glimmer of hope for getting better is via stem cell treatment, so if you truly care, put the tube in, and let us get to work developing cures for people like Terri and hope we beat the clock that way. Otherwise, if you refuse to support research, then stop going on about how you value life, because we have an opportunity to improve many lives - not just Terri's - and you're blocking it."

We could throw this back in their face. Why not?

[MemphisTiger]

1. That's interesting, this is the first I've heard of tying the two

issues together. This should be talked about in the MSM rather than just internet discussion. If this is already a political topic, let's turn it into a big one.

[vpigrad]

2. Sigh

> developing cures for people like Terri

That's the problem with your post. The Bush-elite don't care about people like Terri. They want people like her and us dead. You seem to think that Bush's actions wrt this matter are anything more than smoke and mirrors. They're not, and stop giving him credibility like that. You are help him by believing his agenda and helping push his agenda.

[MindLikeAParachute]

3. I meant it more like "two can play that game" (smoke & mirrors)

They're happy to twist issues like this back on us.

The problem is that we're fighting a group that loves smoke and mirrors. I'm just saying two can play that game.

WE KNOW that even if we kept Terri plugged back up the administration is not going to capitulate and fully fund and endorse SCR (Stem Cell Research).

WE EVEN that even if we did, it's probably be a LOONNNGGG time before we could regrow a cerebral cortext - much too late for Terri, and then she'd have to start over as a mental infant, assuming it all worked out perfectly from a medical sense.

So, in this case, it's not really about Terri - she's a symbol.

They're using her as a symbol of their support for life (and our apparent disregard for it, or at least we don't hold life as dear as the dear old GOP).

Today, Terri - tomorrow, someone else. But little by little they get their message across ("Oh, we are for life, those darn Democrats would just as soon unplug your grandma").

Although Terri may not be a classic example, she's "good enough" in a symbolic sense - she's in an irreversible degenerative state (irreversible by today's technology, meaning not SCR). She has our nation's attention. Only one political side is making hay of this, to promote their "pro-life" position.

Our side is taking the "keep your nose out of other people's business" position, but that needn't be the only position. We could also use the SCR position as in "if you truly want to prevent tragedies like this from happening again, then we need to support SCR".

Of course, the point is not to speak to the administration - they don't give a shit. The point is to speak to the public, and get our message across that we care, and we want to improve quality of life.

The GOP is not speaking to us in this argument - they're speaking to the people. And they're winning - not the legal battle necessarily, but the message battle.

We need to speak back. We can address it to the GOP, but we don't care if they ignore us (since we know they're not going to give a shit anyway). What we care about is that the people hear the message we're sending - which is that the GOP's failure to support SCR is going to mean at most they can promise you life support. WE (dems) can promise you attempts to cure such conditions, THEY (GOP) can only offer to keep you breathing because that's as far as their sanctity of life takes them.