OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

For the Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo

Date: March 20, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Health and Health Care


FOR THE RELIEF OF THE PARENTS OF THERESA MARIE SCHIAVO -- (House of Representatives - March 20, 2005)

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, it is a sad day in America when a society as great as ours and filled with as many opportunities as ours turns its back on one of its most vulnerable disabled citizens. It is unfortunate that it has come to this.

My colleague said a little bit ago or asked the question, "Where will we stop if we allow this to go forward?" I ask the same question of them: Where will we stop if we allow this to go forward? This is not an end of life decision.

Those who have said that this issue should be a private and personal matter are correct. I agree with them. Congress has no business interjecting its opinion in the end-of-life decisions of any family.

This is not what we are doing here. Terri Schiavo is not brain dead, she is not on artificial life support. She is not terminally ill or in the process of dying. She is brain damaged but if given the chance to be rehabilitated again, there is no telling what she can do.

We are here precisely because we respect the rule of law. And my colleague read the 14th amendment to us before, and I will not do it again. Congress is merely saying to the Nation that we think a Federal court should look into this case and determine whether or not her constitutional right to life has been infringed upon. End-of-life decisions are excruciatingly difficult for any family to make. I know. My mother told us every week of her life that she did not want to be kept on life support. She had a stroke and she was on life support. The most difficult decision I ever made in my life, and my father's. But we consulted with the physicians, and we were able to get her to a point where she could live off of life support and leave it in the hands of God, and that is what we did.

I know how difficult this decision is too. I do not know anyone here in this legislative body who wants to interject their opinion in any family's decision, but starving a woman to death when death is not imminent is wrong. Terri Schiavo deserves to have her constitutional rights respected.

Mr. Speaker, my thoughts and prayers are with Terri and her parents tonight.

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