Public Opinion and Activism in The Terri Schiavo Case - Activism and Protests

Activism and Protests

See also Government involvement in the Terri Schiavo case.

U.S. President George W. Bush, Governor of Florida Jeb Bush, many Republicans, several Democrats in the Florida Legislature and U.S. Congress, and Vatican officials have sided with Schiavo's parents. Other groups and individuals, including the American Civil Liberties Union as well as many Democratic and several Republican legislators, have expressed support for the position of Michael Schiavo. One individual activist even filed a pro se appeal with the Florida State Supreme Court.

Various Christian organizations demanded that Schiavo's feeding tube be reinserted. Most of these groups are affiliated with the Christian right, but consumer activist Ralph Nader and the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a Democrat and civil rights activist, also called for Schiavo's feeding tube to be reinserted. On March 29, Jackson prayed with the Schindler family outside of Schiavo's Florida hospice. Some groups, such as Not Dead Yet, also protested the removal of the feeding tube because they felt it violated the rights of the disabled.

Forty-seven protesters, including many children, were arrested outside the hospice where Schiavo was located. Most of these were non-violent, staged arrests for trespassing, made when protestors crossed a police line in a symbolic attempt to bring water to Schiavo. One man ran past police and reached the front door of the hospice carrying a glass of water for Terri; he was stunned with a Taser and was apprehended.

Arrests were made in two separate murder plots against Michael Schiavo. Richard Alan Meywes of North Carolina was accused of offering $250,000 over the Internet for the murder of Michael Schiavo and $50,000 for the murder of Judge George Greer. Because of the nature of his crimes, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in the case, and Meywes was charged under Federal law.

In another case Michael Mitchell of Rockford, Illinois, attempted to rob a Florida gun store as part of an effort to "rescue Terri Schiavo." He walked into a Seminole, Florida gun store, where he brandished a box cutter and smashed a glass case in an attempt to take a gun. When the store owner confronted him with his own gun, Mitchell fled and was later arrested.

Additionally, the wife of one of Michael Schiavo's brothers has been targeted; a white car drove by her home three times over the course of several hours, and on the last pass the driver shouted to her, "If Terri dies, I'm coming back to shoot you and your family." Another of Michael Schiavo's brothers says that he receives death threats every time the case is in the news. .

On the day Schiavo died, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay criticized the legal system and said, "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior." He also threatened to impeach the judges who refused to intervene on Schiavo's behalf. "We will look at an unaccountable, arrogant, out-of-control judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president," DeLay said. On April 14, 2005, DeLay held a news conference and issued an apology for the tone of his comments. He stated, "I said something in an inartful way, and I shouldn't have said it that way, and I apologize for saying it that way."

Judge Greer and his family are under protection from U.S. Marshals due to death threats (as recently as March 2005) for having ruled against restoring Schiavo's feeding tube. Additionally, he has been asked to leave his Southern Baptist congregation, Calvary Baptist Church, in Clearwater.

During the final stages of the court battle in March 2005, around 30 individuals made a variety of complaints to the DCF, alleging various abuses. These included Terri Schiavo being in pain from recent dental work, although she had not had any dental work for years prior to that, and sensory deprivation. DCF investigators found the claims to be groundless, stating that there were "no indicators" of abuse in any of the cases and concluding that "the preponderance of the evidence shows that Michael Schiavo followed doctors' orders regarding Ms. Schiavo's diagnosis of being in a persistent vegetative state and that he provided her with appropriate care."