Tucson: US Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords will begin in-patient rehabilitation at a facility in Texas on Friday, two weeks after surviving an assassination attempt.
According to the BBC, Giffords will be moved to Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital in Houston.
Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly, a space shuttle astronaut, said that doctors at University Medical Center in Tucson, where Giffords has undergone a series of operations, had stabilized her to the point she could move into the rehabilitation phase of recovery.
“I am extremely hopeful at the signs of recovery that my wife has made since the shooting,” Kelly said in a statement released by Giffords’ congressional office.
He further said that they have chosen the rehabilitation clinic in Houston because of its 'national reputation for treating serious penetrating brain injuries' and its relative closeness to Tucson.
Giffords, and 18 others were shot on January 8 when 22-year-old Jared L. Loughner opened fire at a 'Congress on Your Corner' event in Arizona where she was meeting with her constituents.
Loughner has been charged with several offences and could face the death penalty if found guilty.
Giffords, who represents Arizona’s Eighth District in the south-eastern corner of the state, has been an outspoken critic of Arizona’s tough immigration law, which is focused on identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants.
She had also come under criticism for her vote in favour of the Democrats’ health care law.