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Bush Signs Emergency Law in Terri Schiavo Case

HeadlineMar 21, 2005

Early this morning President Bush signed emergency legislation to allow a federal judge to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo. Schiavo is the severely brain-damaged woman in Florida who has become the focus of an intense national debate on euthanesia. On Friday, doctors — at the direction of a state court — disconnected the feeding tube to Schiavo. She has been in a vegetative state for 15 years. The move was supported by Schiavo’s husband but not her parents. With the backing of Schiavo’s parents, Republican lawmakers approved legislation to allow a federal judge to consider reversing the decision of the state court. Following the passage of the bill, the parents of Terri Schiavo asked a judge this morning to order the reinsertion of the brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube. Their attorney filed a request for an emergency injunction to keep their daughter fed. In a rare Sunday session, members of Congress were called back from their Easter recess to tackle the case and President Bush interrupted his vacation in Texas.

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