This bill, as passed by the House, is bizarre. And then people wonder why the balance of powers has become so misaligned.
House Passes Bill to Save Terri Schindler Schiavo
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
March 17, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday night that might save the life of Terri Schindler Schiavo and other medically incapacitated people.
The "Protection of Incapacitated Persons Act of 2005" (H.R. 1332), which passed by voice vote, now moves to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), who introduced the legislation with Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), told his fellow lawmakers the bill would protect Terri, a brain-damaged Florida woman, from starving to death by allowing a federal court to consider her case - unrestricted by the findings of state courts.
Cases like Terri's would be moved to federal courts after state remedies are exhausted.
"What's going on in Florida regarding Terri Schiavo is nothing short of inhumane," Sensenbrenner said. "She's facing what amounts to a death sentence, ensuring she will slowly starve to death over a matter of weeks."
Terri's feeding and hydration tube will be removed at her husband's insistence, and against her parents' wishes, at 1 p.m. EST on Friday.
"Terri Schiavo -- a woman who smiles and cries and who is not on a respirator or any other 24-hour-a-day medical equipment -- has committed no crime and she has done nothing wrong. Yet the Florida courts seem bent on setting an extremely dangerous precedent by saying we must stop feeding someone who can't feed herself. Who's next -- the disabled or those late in life?
Sensenbrenner called the bill a way to reinforce the legal protection for the most vulnerable, and he noted that it applies not just to Terri, but to anyone who might find themselves in Terri's situation.
"What Terri Schiavo and all disabled people deserve, in contested cases, is for justice to tilt toward life," Sensenbrenner said; and when a person's intention regarding life-support are unclear, it's all the more important to have a federal court provide a "double check for life," he added.
"This bill takes that extra step, not just for Terri Schiavo, but for all of us."
The Christian Coalition of America is among the pro-life groups praising the House for its quick action on the bill, and it is urging the Senate to also pass the bill when it reaches the Senate floor - probably today (Thursday).
"There were numerous outstanding speeches on the House floor Wednesday night in support of "Terri's Law II," the Christian Coalition noted.
The group expects President George W. Bush to sign 'Terri's Law II' on Thursday night or Friday morning, and it noted that Bush's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, signed the first law to save Terri's life in Oct. 2003.
That Florida law was ultimately overturned, and a Florida judge has repeatedly ruled against motions filed by Terri's parents since then.
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200503\NAT20050317a.html