Brain-Dead Woman Who Gave Birth Taken Off Life Support
Adriana Smith was put on life support for months under Georgia’s strict abortion ban.
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A pregnant woman who was declared brain-dead months ago has been taken off life support after giving birth to a baby. Adriana Smith was declared brain-dead in February after blood clots formed in her brain. At the time she was about 10 weeks pregnant. Since then, her family has been forced by Georgia state law to keep her on life support so that her body may carry the baby to term. The baby was delivered June 13 by C-section at Emory University Hospital, her mother, April Newkirk, told 11Alive. This Sunday, Smith’s family celebrated her 31st birthday. Smith was taken off life support this Tuesday. Under Georgia’s abortion ban, any fetus with a detected heartbeat, around six weeks of gestation, cannot be aborted. Since Smith was in stable physical condition, the hospital deemed that her case did not qualify as a “medical emergency.” “It’s torture for me,” Newkirk said last month. She expressed concern for Smith’s 7-year-old son, who assumed Smith was sleeping. The company that runs the hospital, Emory Healthcare, told the Associated Press that, “Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve.”
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