legal arena

Terri Schiavo: Judicial Homicide or Act of Mercy?

By David Brody
Congressional Correspondent

CBN.com – WASHINGTON - As the Terri Schiavo case became national news in the past week, it has stirred up passionate debate across the country. The last week has been packed with emotion.

A crying woman lamented, "I can't stand what they're doing to her. It's tearing my heart apart."

And for the family, words of anger.

Terri’s father, Robert Schindler said, "It's judicial homicide, that's what it is. It's murder. They're murdering her."

As their daughter lays dying inside the hospice, outside, the debate rages.

The nation is clearly talking about this: with one side saying Terri has the right to die with dignity, the other saying it is not up to humans to play God. Either way, it has families discussing the whole idea of living wills, and the case highlights the plight of the disabled.

Quadraplegic and disability rights advocate Joni Eareckson Tada remarked, "This will impact thousands of disabled people whose legal guardians might not have their best wishes at heart."

The debate has been no less intense here in Washington, with some political analysts supporting last weekend's extraordinary action by Congress, and the President’s move of the Schiavo case to federal courts; many others saying Washington should never have gotten involved.

But Republican leaders in both the House and the Senate say they plan to press on with hearings on these end-of-life questions, and bills certainly will follow. Congress plans to have the biggest say is when it comes to the federal judiciary.

The pro-life community says that the Terri Schiavo case is proof-positive that the country has a problem when it comes to runaway activist judges.

Congress plans to tackle that issue head on by trying to reign in the power of these federal judges.

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