Case exposes political divide

By intervening in the fate of a severely brain-damaged Florida woman, President George W. Bush and the US Congress have turned up the volume on cultural and social issues that divide Republicans and Democrats in the United States.

The "moral" rift - including on the questions of abortion and gay marriage - laid bare in last year's Presidential election was exposed again on Monday over an emergency bill to prolong the life of Terri Schiavo, whose feeding tube was removed three days ago.

Democrats accused Republicans of pandering to the religious conservatives who helped re-elect Mr Bush on an issue they said should be decided by the Schiavo family and the state courts.

"They clearly viewed this as a political opportunity," one Democratic official said. "They saw this as a chance to service their base. ...It was a no-brainer for them."

Although Republicans publicly rejected any ulterior motives, a memo surfaced over the weekend calling the Schiavo case "a great political issue" and saying that Christian conservatives would be "excited" by the Senate debate.

On Monday, they characterised the extraordinary decision to step into the middle of a legal dispute as the US government taking a stand for "the culture of life".

Democrats, for their part, faced a "no-win" situation, another party official said. Although Senate Democrats could have objected in order to delay the proceedings, none did so. Only three senators actually showed up for the voice vote.

"The Republicans were demagoguing it to the point where they would go in and basically attack Democrats saying, 'They want to kill her, they want to kill her'," the official said.

The courtroom wrangling between Ms Schiavo's husband and her parents over whether to remove the feeding tube and allow her to die has raged for years.

When a Florida judge ordered its removal on Friday, the Republican leadership in Congress recalled lawmakers from an Easter recess to pass a law requiring a federal court review. The case has become an emotional cause for anti-abortion activists and religious conservatives, groups that will be key to Republican victories in the 2006 mid-term congressional elections and the 2008 presidential race.

"This isn't about politics," said Tracey Schmitt, spokesman for the Republican National Committee. "We support and commend those who support and defend life. The President and Republicans consistently work to promote a culture of life."

But Americans broadly and strongly disapproved of Congress' s intervention and two-thirds said they believed lawmakers were using her case for political gain, according to an ABC News poll published on Monday. Seventy per cent deemed the congressional action inappropriate.

Mr Bush for the first time interrupted a vacation to return to Washington to sign the Bill. He was awoken shortly after 1 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Monday, left his bedroom and signed the legislation at 1.11 a.m. (0611 GMT) in a hallway in the White House.

The Bill could have been flown to Mr Bush's ranch in Texas, a round trip of about seven hours, but White House spokesman Scott McClellan said time was important even though doctors estimate Ms Schiavo could survive for up to two weeks without the feeding tube.

Mr Bush's dramatic decision to rush back to the White House was seen by some critics - who pointed out that neither a deadly tsunami nor hints of possible terror attacks elicited the same response - as political grandstanding.

Mr McClellan denied any such considerations, saying the Bill was simply designed to give Ms Schiavo's parents "another chance to save her life".

"It is a complex case, where serious questions and significant doubts have been raised," he said. "And the President is always going to stand on the side of defending life."

But Mr Bush also supports the death penalty. And conservative Republicans have traditionally defended states' rights.

"What they're setting themselves up to say is questions of life supersede almost everything else," said Jennifer Duffy, a political analyst with the nonpartisan Cook Report. "That's the path they're going down."

Factbox

The case of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo has snowballed from a bitter family dispute into a national controversy over the right to die. Here are some of the key developments over the last 15 years.

February 1990: Terri Schiavo suffers cardiac arrest at 26 years. Her brain is starved of oxygen and she falls into what some doctors call a "persistent vegetative state", a diagnosis later accepted by state courts. Since the cardiac arrest, she has lived in nursing homes and is fed and hydrated by tubes.

1992: Ms Schiavo and her husband, Michael Schiavo, awarded separate malpractice settlements worth almost $1 million.

Mr Schiavo says in later years that the money has long since been used up to pay medical expenses.

1993: Ms Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, say they have a falling out with Mr Schiavo over therapy options. The parents petition the courts to remove him as her legal guardian. The suit is rejected.

1998: Mr Schiavo seeks court permission to remove feeding tube from his wife.

2000/2001: Circuit Court Judge George Greer orders feeding tube removed in February 2000, but the ruling is not carried out as appeals are filed by the parents, who believe their daughter could recover with the right therapy. Both the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court refuse to intervene, but a civil court judge does and orders feeding restored in April 2001, two days after it has been halted.

2002: Mr Schiavo files new petition to have the feeding tube removed after mediation attempts fail.

2003: The feeding tube is removed but Florida Governor Jeb Bush, US President George W. Bush's brother, presses state legislature to hastily approve a bill that allows him to intervene and order the tube to be reinserted six days later.

2004: The Florida Supreme Court finds that the so-called "Terri's law", which allowed Governor Bush to intervene, is unconstitutional.

February 25, 2005: Judge Greer sets 1 p.m., March 18, as deadline for removal of the feeding tube after declining to give the Schindlers more time to seek medical options.

March 18, 2005: Congressional committees subpoena Miss Schiavo to appear at hearings in a bid to keep her alive, but Judge Greer rejects their motion and the feeding tube is removed at 1.45 p.m.

March 21, 2005: US Congress passes a Bill allowing federal court intervention in the Schiavo case, and President Bush, who has cut short a Texas vacation to return to the White House, signs it. Schindlers file lawsuit and motion in federal court in Tampa to have the feeding tube reinserted.

March 22, 2005: US District Judge James Whittemore rejects request from Schindlers to reinsert her feeding tube, dealing a blow to attempts by the US Congress and the White House to prolong her life.