The American Spectator

Abortion and euthanasia of the helpless involve coercion already; coercion would have become part of policy. Objectors might have been forced to choose between prison and conscience. A normal life could have become a moral impossibility.

Coercion was budding in 1973: For example, a community agency arranged the nonconsensual sterilization of the Relf girls. Also, a bill in the Oregon legislature called for forcing all hospitals to perform abortions and sterilizations.

As the example of Nazi Germany shows, the pool of perceived undesirables will inevitably widen. Had Sackett prevailed, anyone remotely imperfect or needing assistance might now be at risk in the United States.

HORKAN OFFERED SOME personal reflections on Walter Sackett: “I had occasion to have various dealings with Dr. Sackett, who was actually a good doctor. I later told him that he was a good doctor but a terrible legislator.

“He used to deliver a woman’s ninth child free of charge, and handled a large number of adoptions of the children of unwed mothers who were referred to him by doctors from all around the state of Florida. He had been involved in the Florida Medical Association for some time. He used to arrange for housing for the unwed mothers during latter stages of their pregnancies, deliver their babies, and arrange placements privately with families. As an attorney, I handled a number of adoptions for his patients and we got along very well.”

Good and evil — wheat and weeds — grew side by side within Walter Sackett, as they do within a society. The weeds appeared to overtake him, as his proposals grew more heinous over time. Weeds like the killing of Terri Schiavo thrive, but by now they could have crushed the wheat. We can always anticipate harvest time.