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Jesse Jackson says he will call Florida state senators, urging them to intervene in the Schiavo case.
The parents of Terri Schiavo met and prayed Tuesday with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who called her impending death ''an injustice.''
Joining the conservatives who have rallied to the parents' cause, the liberal Jackson said he would call state senators who opposed legislation that would have reinserted Schiavo's feeding tube and ask them to reconsider.
Terri Schiavo was in her 12th day without food and water. Her husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, has insisted that he was carrying out her wishes by having her feeding tube pulled. His lawyer said Monday that an autopsy was planned to show the extent of Terri Schiavo's brain damage.
Jackson's arrival Tuesday was greeted by some applause and cries of ''This is about civil rights.''
''I feel so passionate about this injustice being done, how unnecessary it is to deny her a feeding tube, water, not even ice to be used for her parched lips,'' said Jackson, who has run for president as a Democrat. ''This is a moral issue and it transcends politics and family disputes.''
''I wanted the Reverend Jackson here for moral support,'' said Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's mother. ''I feel good with him here. Very strong. He gives me strength.''
University of South Florida political science professor Susan MacManus said Jackson's appearance shows that the life-and-death issues surrounding their daughter resonate beyond white, Christian conservatives.
''A person of faith, and not just a white, conservative person of faith will be seen as a welcomed change,'' MacManus said.
Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler, said he visited his daughter Tuesday and said she was ''failing.''
''She still looks pretty darn good under the circumstances,'' Schindler said. ''You can see the impact of no food and water for 12 days. Her bodily functions are still working. We still have her.''
After Jackson's news conference, a man was tackled to the ground by officers when he tried to storm into the hospice, Pinellas Park police said.
Dow Pursley, 56, of Scranton, Pa., was shocked with a Taser stun gun and was arrested on charges of attempted burglary and resisting arrest without violence, police spokesman Sanfield Forseth said. The man had two bottles of water with him but did not reach the hospice door, police said. He is the 47th protester arrested.
On Monday, George Felos, the attorney for husband and guardian Michael Schiavo, said that the chief medical examiner for Pinellas County, Dr. John Thogmartin, had agreed to perform an autopsy.
He said her husband wants definitive proof showing the extent of the brain damage.
An attorney for the Schindlers, David Gibbs III, said her family also wants an autopsy. ''We would certainly support and encourage an autopsy to be done, with all the unanswered questions,'' Gibbs said.
Felos said he had visited Schiavo for more than an hour Monday and said she looked ''very peaceful. She looked calm.''
''I saw no evidence of any bodily discomfort whatsoever,'' Felos said, although he added her breathing seemed ''a little on the rapid side'' and her eyes were sunken.
Doctors have said Terri Schiavo, 41, would probably die within a week or two when the tube was removed on March 18. She suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance.
The parents on Monday pressed again for President Bush, Congress and the president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, to intervene to have the feeding tube reinserted. A small group of supporters protested outside the White House gates.
As Schiavo drew closer to death, extra police officers blocked the road in front of the Florida hospice, and an elementary school next door was closed so students could avoid the crowd.
President Bush's aides have said they have run out of legal options.
At least two more appeals filed by the state seeking the feeding tube's reconnection were pending, but those challenges were before a Florida appeals court that had rejected the governor's previous efforts in the case.
Source: AP