Brain dead, but good to go.

Feministing and PZ Myers have noted a troubling stand in Italy (well, one of many).

Italy is experiencing its own version of the Terry Schiavo case. A woman, Eluana Englaro, was in a car crash 17 years ago that caused catastrophic brain damage — she's been in a vegetative state ever since, and the family has been engaged in a legal fight for many years to pull the plug and allow her to die with a little dignity. They finally won that battle recently, and are easing her off life support and a feeding tube.

Cue the right wing. Silvio Berlusconi, Bush-like Prime Minister of Italy, has rushed to impose an emergency decree blocking the suspension of life support, a decision made after consulting with the Vatican. Here's a good rule: never consult the priesthood of a death cult before making a life-and-death decision. They always give stupid and evil advice.

...

Ah, Berlusconi stepping in and forcing his opinions yet again. Seems he and the Church are in agreement, if you can make use of a woman's body to produce children...she's good to go. But this is the church, what other use to they really ever see in women?

... The fact that the Italian Prime Minister (after consulting the Vatican, which was obviously a terrible idea) is using her reproductive capacity as a reason to deny her the right to die is absolutely absurd. This kind of logic really makes me wonder if more people than I'd previously thought really do see women as fetal containers.