20 years ago: The death of Theresa Ann Campo Pearson

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.
But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. Proverbs 8:35-36

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12 (also Proverbs 16:25)

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,...
...And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:22,28

Surely some future historian, surveying our times, will note sardonically that it took no more than three decades to transform a war crime into an act of compassion, thereby enabling the victors in the war against Nazism to mount their own humane holocaust, which in its range and in the number of its victims, may soon far surpass the Nazi one. It is significant that, whereas the Nazi holocaust has received lavish TV and film coverage, the humane one goes rolling along largely unnoticed by the media. Malcolm Muggeridge, Sanctity of Life, Chatelaine, December 1979, p. 138

On March 30, 1992, Theresa Ann Campo Pearson died at the age of nine days. She had been born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida without a complete brain or skull. Although her parents knew of her condition while she was a fetus, they had decided that she should be born so that her organs could be donated to other babies. The parents sought to have Theresa declared brain-dead, but on March 26, Florida Circuit Court Judge Estella Moriarty ruled that the baby had a functioning brain stem and could not be declared brain-dead. Two other courts also rejected the parents’ appeals. By the time Theresa died, her organs had deteriorated too much to still be viable for transplant.

It's not for me to pronounce judgement on Theresa's parents, but the thought of parents allowing their baby to be born just for the purpose of donating her organs--as opposed of allowing her to be born to experience what brief life she may have--nauseates me. As a way of illustrating how long or short life can be, March 30, 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Elizabeth the Queen Mother at the age of 101.