Terri Schiavo Case Was a Culture-of-Death Tipping Point

Terri Schindler Schiavo's family (R-L) brother Bobby Schindler and parents Mary and Robert Schindler hold a media conference on Capitol Hill to announce the official launch of The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation as National Right to Life PAC employee Elizabeth Maier holds a banner with Terri's photograph, in Washington on March 30, 2006. After living in what doctors called a persistent vegetative state for years, Terri Schiavo died March 31, 2005, after her feeding tube was removed two weeks earlier. Bobby Schindler and his family were against the removal of the feeding tube and wanted to keep Terri alive. The not-for-profit foundation has stated that its mission is to "ensure the rights of disabled, elderly, and vulnerable citizens against care rationing, euthanasia and medical killing." Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Commentary​

The March 31, 2005, court-ordered death of Terri Schiavo was an ominous cultural tipping point.

As many readers will recall, the legal case began when Terri’s husband, Michael Schiavo, applied to remove the feeding tube from his profoundly cognitively disabled wife so that she would die from dehydration. When Terri’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, joined by her siblings Bobby and Suzanne, fought the plan in court, profoundly important cultural and legal battle lines were drawn that were destined to change the country.