What is the value of a life?  You may have heard about the case currently playing out in Texas, a case that pits a family's desire to honor its loved one's final wishes and a state concerned to preserve a life. 
     The facts of the case are as follows.  A woman is struck by a lung condition, fades quickly, and is put on life support.  Prior to this incident, she had made clear to her family that she did not wish to be sustained on life support, that she would rather accept the death that awaited her.  Complicating her situation, however, is that she is pregnant.  Although her doctors and her hospital have indicated that they would like to honor this woman's directives and wishes and terminate her life support, the state of Texas, employing a law that has been on the books for some time, insist that to do so is illegal.   If a woman is pregnant, this law stipulates, the state must do what it can to bring the baby to viability.
     So the question becomes this:  do we honor the woman's wishes or do what we can to preserve the fetus (potential baby)?  Should this state law be allowed to override a free agent's wishes, or should this free agent's wishes be honored?  At stake, of course, is the life of the fetus.  Should it be kept alive (and, by extension, the woman) until it is viable outside the womb?  Experience indicates that babies born significantly prematurely almost always have multiple health issues and difficulties, resulting in lengthy and expensive care, care that unless its parents have solid insurance, could well be footed by the taxpayers.  On the other hand, a life is a life, each one as sacred as the next.  Who are we to decide one life's worth?  Our justification is no more than our own.
    Underlying this debate is therefore a larger issue, that is, how do we decide what is right and wrong?  How do we decide what is true?  Do we use social and political consensus?  Do we use religion?  Do we use ourselves?  How we answer this question will determine what we will do.  Complicating the equation is that whether it be the result of cultural forces, historical circumstance, or personal whim, we, society, and religion all change, sometimes constantly.
     So, some might say, we look to God.  But definitions of God differ, often rather dramatically.  Moreover, as anyone who has been in this type of end of life situation knows, there are frequently no good choices to make.  If we believe God is there, we pray.  We pray for wisdom, we pray for discernment.  We pray for meaning, we pray for purpose, we pray for a point.  And we make our choice.
     May God help this family, may he help the state.  May love and meaningfulness prevail.