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 . 
