Posted on 03/03/2005 1:38:12 PM PST by amdgmary
URGE CONGRESS TO ACT TO HELP SAVE TERRI SCHINDLER-SCHIAVO
URGENTLY ask your U.S. Senators and Representative to support the “Federal Terri’s Law”, the Incapacitated Person's Legal Protection Act, to give the Schindler family access to a federal court to argue for the life of their daughter, Terri Schindler Schiavo.
Representative Dave Weldon, M.D. (R-Fl-15) announced March 3 that he intends to introduce this bill on March 8.
Time is precious! Do not wait for the actual introduction of the bill to urge your Senators and Representatives to save Terri! Only a massive outpouring from their constituents will move Members of Congress to act quickly enough on this vital bill to give Terri her chance at life.
For contact information for your U.S. Senators and Representatives, click here http://www.firstgov.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml.
For more information on the Federal Terri’s Law, click here http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/Terri/TerriQAHC.html
Ping. Federal Law to Help Save Terri to be Introduced
by Representative Dave Weldon, M.D.
BTTT
Thanks for posting. Needs a big bump!
I'm glad someone in Congress is listening.
AWESOME!
Terri ping! If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know by FReepmail!
The only thing that can save her is God.
BUMP
Lord hear our prayers
bump
For contact information for your U.S. Senators and Representatives, click here http://www.firstgov.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
For more information on the Federal Terri’s Law, click here http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/Terri/TerriQAHC.html
Done!
Major bump.
http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/Terri/FedLaw.html
A BILL
To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide the protections of habeas corpus for certain individuals
whose life support may be withdrawn pursuant to court order, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled,
Section 1. Short title.
This Act shall be known and may be cited as “The Incapacitated Person’s Legal Protection Act of 2005.”
Section 2. Findings and purposes.
(a) Findings. The Congress finds the following:
(1) Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, “No State ... shall
deprive any person of life ... without due process of law...nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws.”
(2) Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment empowers Congress “to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions” of the Amendment. The United States Supreme Court has held that under this
section, while Congress may not work a “substantive change in the governing law” under the other sections
of the Fourteenth Amendment, it may adopt remedial measures exhibiting “a congruence and
proportionality between the injury to be prevented or remedied and the means adopted to that end.”
Tennessee v. Lane, 541 U.S. 509, 21 (2004); City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507, 519-20 (1997).
(b) Purposes. It is the purpose of this Act–
(1) to facilitate balancing the acknowledged right of persons to refuse consent to medical
treatment and unwanted bodily intrusions with the right to consent to treatment, food, and fluids so as to
preserve their lives;
(2) in circumstances in which there is a contested judicial proceeding because of dispute about
the expressed previous wishes or best interests of a person presently incapable of making known a
choice concerning treatment, food, and fluids the denial of which will result in death, to provide that the
fundamental due process and equal protection rights of incapacitated persons are protected by ensuring
the availability of collateral review through habeas corpus proceedings.
Section 3. Extension of Habeas Protections.
(a) In general. Chapter 153 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking section 2256
and inserting the following:
Ҥ 2256. Extension of habeas protections to certain persons subject to court orders.
(a) For the purposes of this chapter, an incapacitated person shall be deemed to be in custody
under sentence of a court established by Congress, or deemed to be in custody pursuant to the judgment
of a State Court, as the case may be, when an order of such a court authorizes or directs the withholding
or withdrawal of food [or] fluids [or] medical treatment necessary to sustain the person’s life. In a habeas
proceeding under this section the person having custody shall be deemed to encompass those parties
authorized or directed by the court order to withdraw or withhold food, fluids, or medical treatment, and
there shall be no requirement to produce at the hearing the body of the incapacitated person. As used in
this section, the term “incapacitated person” means an individual who is presently incapable of making
relevant decisions concerning the provision, withholding, or withdrawal of food, fluids or medical treatment
under applicable state law.
(b) Subsection (a) does not apply in the case of a judicial proceeding in which no party
disputes, and the court finds, that the incapacitated person, while having capacity, had executed a written
advance directive valid under applicable law that clearly authorized the withholding or withdrawal of food or
fluids or medical treatment in the applicable circumstances.
(c) As used in this section, the term “incapacitated person” means an individual who is presently
incapable of making relevant decisions concerning the provision, withholding, or withdrawal of food, fluids
or medical treatment under applicable state law.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to create substantive rights not otherwise secured
by the Constitution and laws of the United States or of the several States.
(b) Clerical Amendment. The item relating to section 2256 in the table of sections at the beginning of
chapter 153 of title 28, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
“2256. Extension of habeas protections to certain persons subject to court orders.”.
(c) Prospective Effect. The remedies specified by this Act shall be available on behalf of any
incapacitated person deemed to be in custody by its terms who is alive on or after the effective date of this
act.
Will do.
Yes, and we are His hands and feet!
I still wish I could figure out when action by the Federal government became the conservatives' cure-all.
I think these sites are a little easier to use:
http://www.senate.gov
and this site:
http://www.house.gov/
BTTT
I guess this is what you were referring to on the March thread, huh?
Good for Weldon, but I have a question, not having followed all the "legal" ins and outs of this deplorable situation. Doesn't the governor- Jeb - have the authority of pardon? Why can't he pardon Terri from her death sentence? I just don't believe he's doing all he can.
It's not a cure-all!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.