Arkansans in Congress torn over brain-damaged woman's fate

LITTLE ROCK - Rep. Vic Snyder looked back Monday on a whirlwind 18 hours and a midnight emergency vote over a brain-damaged Florida woman's feeding tube, and he isn't sure he voted the right way.

"I'm really torn on this and I'm not sure my vote was the correct one," said Snyder, a family doctor who joined a mostly Republican majority in a midnight vote Monday to move Terri Schiavo's right-to-die case to federal court.

"I tried to evaluate it on the merits, and feel it's been very confusing for the last 18 hours, but I hope and pray that political intent had nothing to do with this."

By allowing Schiavo's parents to take their case to federal court, they can request to have a feeding tube for their daughter reinserted after a Florida appeals court sided with her husband and allowed the device to be removed.

Schiavo has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years.

Arkansas Democratic Reps. Snyder, Marion Berry and Mike Ross canceled events in Arkansas and rushed back to Washington late Sunday evening for the special vote. All three voted to let the case move to federal court, even though many other Democrats said it set a dangerous precedent for Congress to enact legislation to decide a family argument.

Republican Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark., was unable to return to Washington for the vote because of the death of his brother in a farm accident Saturday. Ross was traveling Monday and couldn't be reached for comment, his spokeswoman said.

Like Snyder, Berry was torn by the emotional and highly irregular vote.

"The case of Terri Schiavo is tragic; regardless of Congress' action there will likely be only sadness and grief," Berry said. "The only option left to me as a Member of Congress is to vote my conscience and pray for Terri and her family."

Snyder said the vote was so rushed that members didn't have time to discuss the nuances with other undecided legislators. He said those Democrats, like Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who argued that the vote took an intimate family issue and made it into a political cause, had a good point, but he hoped Schiavo's parents' motives were pure.