Twenty-one years ago,

March 31, 2005, Terri Schiavo succumbed to a court ordered death by starvation and dehydration. There were those who sought to misdirect from the infamy which had led to the death of Terri by pointing out she had “no quality of life” or that her “suffering had come to an end.” Whatever the ‘spin,’ a life was agonizingly terminated in reliance on false compassion and in contemplation of the ‘inconvenience’ of caring for an innocent and defenseless life.

In the United States, fourteen states legally permit medical aid in dying with more states seeking to adopt similar legislation. “Ohio End of Life Options” is promoting assisted suicide across our state of Ohio. European and other countries continue to expand active euthanasia. Canada’s Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) reported a record 16,499 people put to death by Canada’s national euthanasia policy. Canada’s ironically titled “ Minister of Health,”  Marjorie Michel,   observed “the federal legal framework protects those who are vulnerable, while supporting freedom of choice and personal autonomy.” The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) reported, “Nearly 23% of Canadians overall cited “isolation or loneliness” as a reason for seeking euthanasia. Medical practitioners reported about 50% of people requested euthanasia because of being a “perceived burden on family, friends, or caregivers.”  

Nearly twenty-one years after Terri Schiavo’s fight for life ended, twenty-five year old Noelia Castillo Ramos became the youngest person in Spain to be euthanized under Spain’s 2021 law. Noelia decided to end her life, having experienced mental illness and multiple instances of terrible abuse. Noelia’s father argued his daughter lacked the ability to make a decision regarding euthanasia while he appealed for medical and psychiatric treatment for his daughter. Despite an outpouring of spiritual and material offers of support from donors and public figures, Noelia was deliberately killed in a Spanish hospital.

The legal representative for Noelia’s parents, Attorney Polonia Castellanos of Abogados Cristianos, commented on the failure of Spain’s euthanasia law.

“We’ve been told it was a law for very extreme cases, for people who were very ill, who were practically dying. Here we see that it’s being used to end the life … of a girl of only 25 years who has her whole life ahead of her and who has a treatable illness.” 

As Terri Schiavo, Noelia Castillo Ramos and now tens of thousands of others across the world demonstrate,  we must stand to protect the innocent, the voiceless and the defenseless.

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