The motives of Congress were clear, though- appeasing the religious conservatives who put them in power. Public opinion polls show that may have backfired. 

Terri Schiavo’s parents are another matter. Sure, Michael has said that the rift between them began when he did not give them any of the settlement money, but beyond that, I believe their motivations were genuine. They could not let go of their daughter, and their faith, which encourages magical thinking, allows them to ignore science and wait for a miracle. 

What makes no sense, though, is their bringing in Randall Terry as their spokesperson. The issue came down to a disagreement as to what both parties thought Terri Schiavo wanted done to her body if she was in a persistent vegetative state. The parent’s claimed that she would have wanted to be kept alive under any circumstances, while her husband stated that she had expressed to him that she did not want to be kept alive as basically, as a South Park parody the other night put it, a human tomato. The irony of all of this, is that Randall Terry has been fighting for is the deinal of the right of women to choose what should happen with their own bodies.

Randall Terry is an ugly piece of work, claiming to be the founder of Operation Rescue when, after his wife founded it and started to get attention, he shoved her into the background and took over. He later divorced her for a much younger woman. Although claiming to be pro-life, he has said such things as "When I or people like me are running the country, you'd better flee because we will find you, we will try you and we'll execute you. I mean every word of it. I will make it part of my mission to see to it that you are tried and executed." This to abortion doctors performing what is currently a completely legal procedure. 

Randall Terry, who is no longer getting as much attention from the anti-abortion crowd after being sued into bankruptcy for his overly aggresive tactics, more recently has moved over to the anti-gay agenda to put himself back in the spotlight. As is the case with a number of prominent people speaking out against gays, his son is gay. He feels it is a betrayal, and that his son has a sex addiction.  He wrote a long public letter condemning his son, hardly the act of a loving father. Once again, he is promoting denying people the right to choose what to do with their own bodies.

We know Terry Randall’s motives. He’s a narcissistic douche who craves the limelight and gets it by appealing to people’s most base feelings. But what was the parent’s motive in bringing him in as spokesperson? Perhaps they feel that even if their daughter had preferred not to be kept alive, that they and the government should have the right to decide for her anyway. Maybe that was their real motive all along. 
 
 

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