Congress, president pass 'Terri's Law'

It was six years ago, March 20, 2005, that Congress and President George W. Bush took the unprecedented
steps of intervening in the court battle over the life of Terri Schiavo, three days into her court-ordered
dehydration.

Bush flew back to Washington, D.C., from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, specifically to be on hand to sign into
law the "For the Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo Act," after both houses of Congress convened on Palm
Sunday to hammer out a compromise on their differing versions of the measure.

The Senate passed the bill unanimously by a voice vote, while the House debated the measure late into the night,
ultimately passing it 203-58 shortly before 1:00 a.m. It called for a federal district court review of the case to
determine whether Schiavo's constitutional rights were violated.

"In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and
our courts should have a presumption in favor of life," declared the president. "This presumption is especially
critical for those like Terri Schiavo who live at the mercy of others."

The historic move by federal lawmakers was at once hailed for its defense of people with disabilities and
decried for its perceived meddling and political pandering.

Schiavo's estranged husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, who waged an 11-year court battle with the
parents and siblings of his incapacitated wife to end her life, blasted Bush and Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

"Come talk to me. Meet my wife. Talk to my wife and see if you get an answer," he taunted in an interview with
the St. Petersburg Times. "They should all be ashamed of themselves."

"Do we really want to set the precedent of this great body, the United States Congress, to insert ourselves in
the middle of families' private matters all across America?" ventured Representative Debbie Wasserman, D-Fla., during
House floor debate of "Terri's Law."

"It absolutely is a family decision and Terri's family needs to be making the decisions, and they're not given
the chance to," responded Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler.

Following less than two hours of oral arguments, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore ruled Schiavo's "life and
liberty interests were adequately protected." Her court-ordered dehydration death proceeded to its conclusion on
March 31, 2005.

Contrary to widespread media reports, Schiavo was neither brain dead, dying, in a coma nor kept alive
artificially by machines. The brain-injured woman breathed on her own and appeared to be cognitively responsive in
video taken during court-ordered neurological evaluations in 2002.

Schiavo had no advance directive in place when she mysteriously collapsed in 1990 at the age of 26 in the
Florida apartment she shared with her husband.

In 1995 Michael Schiavo hired a prominent right-to-die attorney and filed a motion to remove the feeding tube
upon which she relied for sustenance in order to precipitate his wife's death, based on newly recollected
conversations in which she allegedly expressed the wish to die if ever dependent on life support. Schiavo's family
disputed the alleged statements.

The plight of Terri Schiavo came to the attention of the nation and the world in a Nov. 13, 2002 story by WND news editor Diana
Lynne. It would be the first of nearly 500 stories published by
WND, ultimately elevating to the No. 1 story in the nation and the world, as millions followed her story to the
end.

Lynne was so moved by her involvement in the story, she later authored "Terri's Story: The Court-Ordered Death of an
American Woman" for WND Books.

WND is the oldest and largest independent Internet news-gathering agency, founded in May 1997. It has been the
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