Congress Gives Parents a Voice in Schiavo Case
WASHINGTON — With the clock running down on how much longer Terri Schiavo can remain alive, congressional leaders Saturday announced an unprecedented agreement that would allow Schiavo's parents to petition the federal courts to have a feeding tube replaced for their brain-damaged daughter.
The agreement, which involves emergency weekend sessions of the House and Senate, is the first time Congress has intervened directly in an individual right-to-die case.
The announcement came in dramatic fashion, trumpeted by conservative Republican leaders who persuaded Democrats to agree to the measure as long as it pertained only to the 41-year-old Florida woman and did not open the way for moving other such emotionally charged cases into the federal courts.
The White House announced Saturday night that President Bush would fly to Washington from his Texas ranch today to be able to sign the emergency legislation. Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the president was standing with all those working to save Schiavo's life.
Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have fought to keep her on life support, even to the point of asking her husband to relinquish to them his position as her legal guardian. Michael Schiavo has maintained that his wife did not wish to be kept alive through artificial means. The Schindlers say their daughter has been misdiagnosed and could improve with therapy.
Outside the nursing facility in Florida where Schiavo is being cared for, her mother pleaded earlier Saturday for lawmakers and the president to intervene. "Please, please, please save my little girl," she said. A vigil was kept at the hospice in Pinellas Park; three people were arrested when they tried to enter the facility.
Michael Schiavo, who had sought to have her feeding tube removed, said that Congress was "getting into something they know nothing about."
"And it's sad," he said. "If they can do it to me, they can do it to everyone in this country."
Terri Schiavo's case has become a cause celebre for evangelical Christians, who have opposed efforts by her husband to end the medical measures that have kept her alive for the past 15 years. Schiavo is in a vegetative state after suffering severe neurological damage when a chemical imbalance caused her to stop breathing. She is able breathe on her own but cannot speak or eat.
