My wife was just wondering whether they will give Terry Schiavo pain killers as they starve her to death to reduce the pain this causes, but she quickly realized that they won’t: “They always assume that living things that don’t talk to you can’t feel pain.” But I know of many people who advocate court-ordered euthanasia for the inconvenient and the horror of partial birth abortion for unwanted infants – both of which can be painful and gruesome practices – who are also passionate advocates of animal rights and feel great concern for the possible pain that humans may cause in dolphins, seals, cats, dogs, etc.

Yes, I believe animals can feel pain and that we need to be compassionate in how we deal with them, but let’s not lose our moral grounding completely by turning everything upside down. If unnecesary pain in animals should be avoided, how can we justify slow torture for Terry Schiavo (she does feel and respond – she is not brain dead!) or the atrocity of partial birth abortion? If the life of an animal counts, why not Terry’s? And if one can go to jail for destroying the eggs of an unborn turtle or other protected species, shouldn’t the unnecessary destruction of unborn humans be a cause for concern?