I'm back already! Are you surprised?

So there are two things that have occured recently as far as Supreme Court judgements go that show the complex multi-facted nature of our government and our sense of right and wrong. Both have to do with the sancitity of life and how best to uphold that. Abortion and assisted suicide.

One Supreme Court ruling judged that a New Hampshire law needed to be reconsidered. The law states that parents of minors seeking an abortion in New Hampshire need to be notified 48 hours before the abortion occured. The Supreme Court took issue with this because it didn't provide a stipulation for minors who had a medical emergency that was health-threatening.

The other Supreme Court ruling upheld Oregon's assisted suicide law, allowing physicians in Oregon to provide lethal overdoses to terminally ill patients. The patients, according to law, must have been diagnosed by a doctor as having 6 months or less to live, be 18 or older, and be able to communicate their desires to their doctor in a concise and clearheaded manner. This Supreme Court ruling blocks higher-ups in the Bush administrations (such as John Ashcroft) from prosecuting and punishing Oregon doctors. The Supreme Court said of the former Attorney General's attempts to prosecute these doctors that the "authority claimed by the attorney general is both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design.” In other words, Ashcroft had no authority to be prosecuting these doctors.

It was interesting to read these two articles on the same day (even though they were published a few days apart). It's strange how we fight for one group's right to live while another group fights for their right to die. Both topics are so controversial and complex that it is really hard to sift through it all and figure out what really is right and wrong.

As far as the abortion issue goes, is it really up to us to decide for other women what is right for them to do in the case of an unwanted pregnancy? But then, of course, just because unborn children can't advocate for themselves, does it really mean that they don't have rights? What about cases where a choice has to be made between the child and the mother as far as who survives? What about the sanctity of life then? How do you decide which life is more valuable? The unborn child has more potential for what its life could become, but how would its life be without a mother? The mother has already experienced life, but then again, it is possible that she could still have other children if her child doesn't survive. And what about multiple child pregnancies, where the mother just physically cannot carry all of her children without endangering their lives and hers? I am thankful that I don't have to make these decisions.

As far as assisted suicide goes, I understand completely why terminally ill patients would fight for their right to choose how they die. Of course spiritual issues come into conflict with this too. If you believe common Christian teaching, suicide is the one unforgivable sin, because it shows a lack of faith in the miraculous nature of God. The argument is, there have been miracles before at the 11th hour, why give up hope? But at the same time, I cannot believe that an all-loving, all-compassionate God would want people to endure unecessary suffering. I don't believe that God would send a person who was suffering with a terminal illness to eternal suffering in hell just because that person decided to end their suffering on earth. Personally I think that God has bigger issues to worry about than that. I support the right-to-die argument and I am thankful that the Supreme Court did as well.

I think the Supreme Court will miss Sandra Day O'Connor greatly. I know that we Americans who agree with her rulings will. I personally think that there need to be more people like her in the political arena. I love swing voters. I love the idea of a politician that doesn't just vote along party lines, but votes according to what truly is right and wrong. I'm tired of party politics. I'm tired of people's need to fit into these prefabricated boxes. Why do people have to be just conservative or just liberal? Honestly, I think that these categories just give people an excuse to not think about the important issues. They find a party or line of thinking that supports their views on one or two issues, and then when they don't want to think about other issues, they rely on that party to make their decisions for them. How sad.

Anyway, that's my rant for today. We'll see how long it takes me to come back.