Our University's Student Government passing a right to life for resolution

Resolution in Support of Theresa Marie Schiavo’s Life

Whereas: International judicial instruments solemnly proclaim a fundamental right to life, and

Whereas: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3, states that “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of persons,” and

Whereas: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 6.1, states that “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life,” and

Whereas: The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano calls judicial decisions to remove the feeding tube from Terri Schiavo “an atrocious death,” and

Whereas: The American jurisprudence condemned Terri Schiavo to the most deplorable death by starvation and dehydration and thus stands ignorantly blind to a human life by employing theory of “reduction ad absurdum,” an extreme form of logic leading to unfair, unjust, and absurd decisions, and

Whereas: The Oath of Hippocrates mandates that medical doctors preserve life and do no mischief, and

Whereas: The Florida State Statute 765.101 states that “Persistent vegetative state means a permanent and irreversible condition of unconsciousness in which there is:
a) The absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior of any kind
b) An inability to communicate or interact purposefully with the environment, and

Whereas: medical doctors and specialists did not arrive to a united conclusion on Terri Schiavo’s medical conditions, and

Whereas: Terri Schiavo is not in comma or terminally ill, rather is severely disabled and some experts agree she does have some cognitive functions, making her aware of her slow death, and

Whereas: Putting any living creature on death by dehydration and starvation leads to “an extremely agonizing death,” according to Dr. William Burke, St. Louis neurologist, and

Whereas: The Americans with Disability Act, 42 U.S.C., §12101, clearly protects a disabled person from having fluids and food withheld, and

Therefore be it resolved: That the Student Government Association (SGA) of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point declares actions to withhold water, food, and nutrition from Terri Schiavo to be reprehensible, wrong, cruel, and inhuman, and urges individuals and officials in power and charge to reinsert the feeding tube, and

Therefore be it finally resolved: that this resolution upon its passage shall be sent by the authors to the following individuals, groups, and entities: Mr. & Mrs. Robert and Mary Schindler, Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, American Medical Association, Hospice of the Florida Suncoast in Pinellas Park, the President’s Council on Bioethics, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, Governor John E. Bush, President of the United States of American George W. Bush, Florida Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of the Untied States, Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, National Review, The Weekly Standard, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Wisconsin State Journal, Stevens Point Journal, UWSP News Services, Washington Post.

Authors: Frank P. Gaura, SGA Executive Director, L&S, Kyle Z Craemer, Student-at-Large, L&S
Sponsor: Robert Forseth, SGA Speaker Pro Tempore, L&S