I need help to think about this....

So I first heard about the case of Terri Schiavo a couple of weeks ago when my pastor raised the issue during a prayer time. My attitude was a little bewildered at first, I couldn't figure out why this case was receiving so much media attention. The case seemed the same to me as the difficult decisions many families have to make every day about keeping loved ones on life support or not. I thought that the conservative right had jumped into this one mainly because the woman was a Christian, and her husband had already started a family with another woman. But now that I now a little more about the case, I don't think this is the only motivation of the political right. I have to admit that I really don't know how I feel about this. At what point and what situations should the government step in to overrule the courts? What do we feel about life and health? Is quantity of life our ultimate goal, no matter how many resources we use, should we keep ourselves alive as long as possible even if we don't know what's going on? but then again, can we make that decision for someone who can't respond? (I guess this would be a good point to remind us all that we should make a living will so others don't have to make those decisions for us). How do we know what type of life terry is living when she can't respond to us? Is she aware of everything that is going on, but just can't tell us? How do we approach this?

Part of me thinks, of what a privelege it is that we even have the chance to debate about these issues. For the vast, vast majority of the world, there would be no second thought given, there simply aren't resources to keep people such as Terry alive. The fact that Terry can receive such media attention for so long reminds us of the millions who have died in such a way, going unnoticed and without a second thought by the rest of the world.

Please help me understand this.