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Posted on 03/21/2005 8:54:40 AM PST by annalex
POSTED: 10:34 am EST March 21, 2005
UPDATED: 11:13 am EST March 21, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush signed emergency legislation early Monday morning that gives Terri Schiavo's parents a chance to plea for their daughter's life in federal court.
The House majority leader said Congress is giving her a chance to live, but some lawmakers said the law goes too far.
Passage of the law came following hours of emotional debate.
"This woman needs help -- not a death sentence," Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-Pa., said.
Democrats protested the decision.
"The majority wishes to undermine over 200 years of jurisprudence," Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., said.
The House voted 203-58 for a bill that gives Terri Schiavo's parents the right to file suit in federal court. That could trigger the reinsertion of feeding tubes needed to keep the brain-damaged woman alive.
"I told her we were going to take her for a little trip, and take her outside, and get her some breakfast, and I got a big smile out of her face, so help me God," Schiavo's father Bob Schindler said.
Almost immediately after the bill passed early Monday morning, Bush signed it into law, vowing to stand on the side of those defending life for all Americans.
The law allows Schiavo's parents to ask a federal judge to prolong Schiavo's life by reinserting her feeding tube that was removed Friday. U.S. District Judge James Whittemore set a hearing for 3 p.m. on the request for a temporary restraining order.
A lawyer for the brain-damaged woman's parents filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court in Tampa as allowed under the new law. The lawsuit alleges a series of rights violations. Those violations include that Terri Schiavo's religious beliefs are being infringed upon, that the removal of the feeding tube violated her rights and that she was not provided an independent attorney to represent her interests.
"We are hopeful that the federal courts will follow the will of Congress and save my sister's life," Schiavo's sister Suzanne Vitadamo said.
Schiavo's brother-in-law doesn't believe the bill is about family. He thinks lawmakers have gone too far.
"It's politics. Nothing else. People like the Bushes [and] that knucklehead Tom Delay. I have no idea what he's about. He is an absolute buffoon," Brian Schiavo said.
Schiavo's husband, Michael, said she told him that she would not want to be kept alive in a vegetative state. Her feeding tube was removed Friday under a state court's orders.
Her parents and many lawmakers say she needs treatment and another opportunity for life. Schiavo's feeding tube was removed twice before. Doctors say she probably will die in about two weeks if the feeding tube is not reinserted.
SURVEY
Should Terri Schiavo be placed back on a feeding tube?
Yes
No
The killers currently have it by a wide margine. Learn something you never suspected about your fellow citizens and check it out: POLL (scroll down)
Poll.
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Choice Votes Percentage of 644 Votes
Yes 215 33%
No 429 67%
Thank you for participating in our survey.
Uh huh. And your brother, IMHO, is an attempted murderer. Helping him to accomplish that goal now would make you an accomplice after the fact, No-Brain Brian.
Should Terri Schiavo be placed back on a feeding tube?
Choice Votes Percentage of 692 Votes
Yes 251 36%
No 441 64%
Cmon FReepers, do your thing!
Should Terri Schiavo be placed back on a feeding tube?
Choice Votes Percentage of 726 Votes
Yes 279 38%
No 447 62%
I just voted in favor of keeping her nourished. This is an issue very close to home, and I have given it a great deal of thought.
I do respect others who may hold a different view, but think they are wrong. I will not call them names, nor argue with them about it.
I have a simple question for my fellow FReepers that I hope some of you will answer without getting too upset at me for asking. If, hypathetically speaking, it was Terri's wish not to be kept alive in this persistant state (meaning she at some point in her marriage told this to her husband), would that change the minds of many of you?
This is for no other reason that to discuss the issue. It is not to say that I agree with what is being done, because I do not.
Anyone know if this hearing will be televised?
I would be willing to bet that fully half of the no votes have no idea that Terri is NOT on a ventilator. Where does this assumption come from. I keep getting, "Sorry, if someone's on a ventilator all these years, the plug needs to be pulled.". THERE IS NO PLUG, PEOPLE! It's the way she eats that is on trial here.
I've had to clear this up with at least a dozen people in the past week. Once I get them to realize that she does breathe on her own, she just can't eat on her own, then at least they will try to listen.
The life of no innocent person depends upon a majority vote.
I have heard this several times....
Also, the spending of the lawsuit money has been approved by the court.
FNC: Fed Judge is a Clinton Appointee.
I voted in favor of keeping her nourished as well! And yes, I agree with you about the latter.
I voted in favor of keeping her nourished as well! And yes, I agree with you about the latter.
OH NO!!
Bump for her.
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32%