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Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush invoked the controversial case of Terri Schiavo at a conservative conference in Washington, DC Friday morning, reminding the audience of his role in the case when he was governor of Florida.

"I stood on the side of Terri Schiavo," Bush said at the Faith and Freedom conference. Bush rarely brings up the Schiavo case on the campaign trail but his brief mention of it was made to a religious, conservative audience receptive to his role in the case.

Bush, who intervened in the long, protracted fight over keeping Schiavo on life support, decided that Schiavo's feeding tube should be reinstated, appealing to pro-life supporters.

The issue spent years traveling through the court system and became a political hot button both in Florida and nationally.

He also told the religious conservatives that "traditional marriage ... has to be respected in the long haul irrespective of what the courts say."