PINELLAS PARK, Florida (CNN) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived Tuesday at Terri Schiavo's hospice and called on Florida lawmakers to have the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted.
"This is one of the profound moral, ethical issues of our time, the saving of Terri's life," the civil rights leader said. "And today we pray for a miracle."
Schiavo, 41, hasn't had water or nutrients since March 18 and is likely to die by week's end, doctors have said.
Jackson said he contacted Schiavo's husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, to request a visit with her, but "he said he thought no."
Michael Schiavo had no immediate reaction to Jackson's comments.
Schiavo has said his wife would want the tube removed, and he has called on outsiders to stop trying to violate her wishes.
Jackson said he is "sensitive" to the struggles and pain that both Michael Schiavo and Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings, the Schindlers, are undergoing.
He said it is his belief that Terri Schiavo should be kept alive. "While law is important, law must be tempered with mercy to have justice," he said.
Jackson said he spoke with several state senators, pushing them to pass emergency legislation, and plans to contact more senators.
While he has sided with the Schindlers, Jackson said in a statement last week that he had "serious misgivings about the appropriateness of Congress intervening with the legal court process on a specific, individual matter."
That statement followed congressional legislation signed by President Bush that allowed federal courts to review state court decisions in the case. (Full story)
The federal courts refused to overturn the state courts' decision. (Full story)
In his statement, Jackson added, "a consistent moral and ethical position would extend a feeding tube to all who are confronted with starvation -- to demand public, government policy to feed the hungry."
Jackson traveled to Florida at the invitation of Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo's brother.
While Jackson was speaking to reporters, an apparent protester slipped past police into the heavily guarded hospice before he was arrested by police.
Officers used a Taser stun-gun to apprehend the man, who police said was Dow Pursley, a family therapist.
Capt. Sanfield Forseth with the Pinellas Park Police Department said the man would be taken to Pinellas County Jail and charged with attempted burglary and resisting arrest without violence.
"This is one of the profound moral, ethical issues of our time, the saving of Terri's life," the civil rights leader said. "And today we pray for a miracle."
Schiavo, 41, hasn't had water or nutrients since March 18 and is likely to die by week's end, doctors have said.
Jackson said he contacted Schiavo's husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, to request a visit with her, but "he said he thought no."
Michael Schiavo had no immediate reaction to Jackson's comments.
Schiavo has said his wife would want the tube removed, and he has called on outsiders to stop trying to violate her wishes.
Jackson said he is "sensitive" to the struggles and pain that both Michael Schiavo and Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings, the Schindlers, are undergoing.
He said it is his belief that Terri Schiavo should be kept alive. "While law is important, law must be tempered with mercy to have justice," he said.
Jackson said he spoke with several state senators, pushing them to pass emergency legislation, and plans to contact more senators.
While he has sided with the Schindlers, Jackson said in a statement last week that he had "serious misgivings about the appropriateness of Congress intervening with the legal court process on a specific, individual matter."
That statement followed congressional legislation signed by President Bush that allowed federal courts to review state court decisions in the case. (Full story)
The federal courts refused to overturn the state courts' decision. (Full story)
In his statement, Jackson added, "a consistent moral and ethical position would extend a feeding tube to all who are confronted with starvation -- to demand public, government policy to feed the hungry."
Jackson traveled to Florida at the invitation of Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo's brother.
While Jackson was speaking to reporters, an apparent protester slipped past police into the heavily guarded hospice before he was arrested by police.
Officers used a Taser stun-gun to apprehend the man, who police said was Dow Pursley, a family therapist.
Capt. Sanfield Forseth with the Pinellas Park Police Department said the man would be taken to Pinellas County Jail and charged with attempted burglary and resisting arrest without violence.