OCTOBER 21, 2003 may have been the most important day in 39-year-old Terri Schiavo's life. She had been without any food or water for six days, per the order of Judge George Greer of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Clearwater, Florida. Terri's family believed she was holding up well. But her body could surely not take much more of being deprived of all fluids.

In Tallahassee, a furious political debate was raging. The previous night, Governor Jeb Bush and speaker of the Florida House Johnnie Byrd had pushed "Terri's Bill" successfully through the House in an emergency session. The bill was now in the Florida Senate. If it passed, Bush, as governor, would be authorized to immediately issue an executive order restoring Terri's tube-supplied food and water.

But although the bill was moving through the Senate at the political speed of light, for supporters of Terri's life, it seemed a glacial pace. Every minute was one more minute Terri was drying out.

AS I LISTENED to the debate over the Internet, I could see the tug of war. On one side were many bioethicists, members of the medical intelligentsia, "right to die" advocates, Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, and his attorney, George Felos. On the other were disability rights advocates, right to lifers, Governor Jeb Bush, Terri's parents and their stalwart lawyer, Patricia Anderson, and the tens of thousands of people from all over the country and the world whose months of insistent emails and telephone calls had resulted in

As the debate raged, some senators opposed the bill, believing that a husband should be permitted to make this tragic decision. But didn't they know that this particular husband, Michael Schiavo, was engaged to be married and already had one child with his fiancé (with another on the way)? Didn't they know he had denied Terri rehabilitation after promising a medical malpractice jury he would provide her with just such care? Didn't they know he wouldn't even let the nursing home personnel clean her teeth?

No, of course they didn't. How could they? This terrible issue had been sprung on them unfairly on extremely short notice. But there had been no other way. Terri's life had literally hung in the balance.

Others worried that the "process" was being violated. The courts had spoken. No matter what we might think, the legislature should stay out of it, they intoned.

But legislative actions to circumvent unpopular court rulings are part of our system of checks and balances. Few complained, for example, when Congress recently passed legislation to override the federal courts after two judges refused to permit the national telemarketing "do not call" list to go into effect.

Finally, Terri's Bill passed by a huge margin in the Senate, and after a brief reconciliation with the House version, the bill became "Terri's Law." But if the supporters of Terri's life thought that this meant Terri was ipso facto saved, they were being naive. In the legal and political battles over the culture of death, nothing is easy. Rehydrating Terri would be no exception.