Legislature pressed to act in defense of life in case of Terri Schiavo

TAMPA (FBW)—In a state where a death sentence can be appealed again and again, it didn’t sit well with members of both chambers of the legislature that Terri Schiavo faced imminent death unless drastic measures were taken to remedy the situation.

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Speaker of the House, Johnnie Byrd (R-Plant City), who initiated a bill that Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law, said recently in an interview with Florida Baptist Witness, he believed there had been a lot of "disturbing information" about her case that caused him to think "something had gone terribly wrong."

Also interviewed by the Witness, Daniel Webster (R-Winter Garden), who sponsored the Senate bill, said he believed the court had, in effect, ordered her death. "Under any other circumstance, when capital punishment is dealt out, in any criminal case, the Supreme Court of the state automatically reviews that death sentence."

Terri Schiavo is the 40-year-old brain damaged woman from Clearwater who is at the center of an international debate over her so-called "right-to-die" [see related story in this issue, "Florida case draws international attention as Sanctity of Human Life Sunday nears"].

Byrd said it was within the legislature’s responsibility in this case to intervene when it appeared clarification was needed. He noted a problem with what he called an "activist judiciary" and a muddying of the waters between the legislative and the judicial branches.

"What we were trying to say is, there is a dispute and when there is no written directive, you need to err on the side of life," said Byrd. "The whole collision here is between people who think they should decide what quality of life is worth living, and it’s certainly not for me to say that."

Webster said there is already a two-prong test that dileniates between life and death.

"Everybody above that line is alive; anybody below that line is dead," he said. In regards to cardio pulmonary function and brain activity, Terri Schiavo meets the definition of a live human being, he added.

"She is an innocent woman," Webster said. "She’d done nothing wrong and yet the court ordered her executed."

Webster said if the Supreme Court had taken the case, the legislature would not have had to act. Instead, he said, they left a "void" requiring action.

"Had we not acted, that line that we established legislatively, that’s been upheld all the way to the Supreme Court, would have moved and there would have been a new line established by the court on where life begins and ends.

"Therefore, by acting, all we did was maintain the line right where it is," Webster added. "And I think that’s the basis for the case ... and I think that’s why all our colleagues did the same."