Jared Strong’s Oct. 23 column, “Court’s original ruling in Schiavo case was correct,” was quite disturbing. In it, he asserted Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube should be removed because she has not shown any mental improvement. He also claimed Terri is in a vegetative state, only able to smile and follow a balloon with her eyes.

But Terri’s life is not without hope. She is not on artificial life support nor is she hooked up to a respirator. She simply needs nourishment through a feeding tube. She is able to laugh and cry; she recognizes voices and tries to respond. Her lack of cognitive improvement has more to do with her husband’s callous refusal of therapy than with the hopelessness of her condition.

However, it should not surprise us Terri is compared to a vegetable. What other purpose could such a comparison serve except to dehumanize and justify killing? The same tactic is used by abortion-rights advocates who call the unborn child a “blob of tissue.”

It is a shame to live in a society where the lack of cognitive improvement can justify the forced starvation of a living, breathing, feeling human being.

Nicole Asmussen

Junior

Political Science