Pro-Life says courts should protect those disabled:
"Execution by Starvation"
Begins for Terri Schiavo?
MADISON, WI (March 18, 2005) - The hearts and prayers of Pro-Life Wisconsinites are going out to Terri Schiavo and her family. The Pro-Life organization is calling the situation "Terri’s cruel execution by starvation and dehydration".
“Terri Schiavo’s court-ordered death is barbaric and entirely senseless,” said Peggy Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. “Our courts are supposed to protect people, not give a husband permission to kill his wife by dehydration and starvation. That Terri is profoundly disabled ought to be a reason for the courts in this country to be especially protective of her basic human rights.”
Florida Circuit Judge George Greer ruled that Schiavo’s feeding tube must be removed. The Pro-Life stance is that the decision thwarted efforts by congressional Republicans to keep her alive by issuing subpoenas for Schiavo, her husband Michael Schiavo, and her health care providers to appear at hearings on March 25th and March 28th. Greer’s ruling contradicts a move by fellow Circuit Judge David Demers who temporarily blocked removal of the feeding tube an hour earlier.
“Our laws must presume in favor of nutrition and hydration because food and water are ordinary means of sustaining a person’s life, even if administered by a feeding tube,” said Matt Sande, director of legislative affairs for Pro-Life Wisconsin.
“Food and fluids are not medical treatment, Sande says. "They do not become ‘treatment’ simply because they are taken by tube; anymore than penicillin or Pepto-Bismol become ‘food’ when taken by mouth. Certainly if Terri was facing imminent death, or was physically unable to receive food and water, it would be morally permissible to remove nutrition and hydration. However, the removal of food and water to cause death should never be permitted. As basic human needs, food and water are basic human rights.”
The conflict between the different branches of state and federal government in this case is likely to continue. Many elected officials including Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner and Mark Green are working to protect Terri. Pro-Life Wisconsin is also expected to continue to advocate on Terri’s behalf and on behalf of all those in similar situations.
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