Adriana Smith, who was declared brain-dead a few months ago, remains on life support because she is pregnant. As per the new update, the fetus inside her continues to grow. The case of the 22-week pregnant Georgia woman exploded and became international headlines a few days ago due to its controversial nature.
“He has his toes, arms, limbs – everything is forming. We’re just hoping he makes it,” the woman’s mother, April Newkirk, told local news station 11Alive.
A pregnant woman in Georgia who was declared brain dead has been on life support for 3 months to let fetus grow enough for delivery. A hospital told her family it’s required under anti-abortion law. Doctors say fetus has fluid on brain & health is at risk https://t.co/gVkQ27o6bN
— Hailey Branson-Potts (@haileybranson) May 16, 2025
Newkirk told that her 30-year-old daughter was eight weeks pregnant when she got a severe headache and immediately went to the hospital in early February. The hospital provided her with the medication and released her. The next day, she again rushed to the hospital as she woke up gasping for air.
The diagnosis revealed that she had blood clots in her brain. Within hours of her first visit to the hospital, she was declared brain dead. Smith, who is also the mother of a 7-year-old boy, has been put on life support since then because of Georgia’s anti-abortion law.
Abortion is banned after six weeks of pregnancy in Georgia. It also includes the provisions that boost the concept of ‘fetal personhood’ under which the fetuses are considered people with full legal rights and protections. Newkirk said that the hospital told her that Smith needed to be kept alive to preserve her baby.
Newkirk said, “We didn’t have a choice or a say about it. We want the baby. That’s a part of my daughter, ” while also emphasizing, “but the decision should have been left to us – not the state.”
The hospital plans to remove Smith from life support in August after the doctors deliver the baby via C-section. However, medical experts are concerned about the potential complications. Steven Ralston, the director of the maternal fetal medicine division at George Washington University, told the Washington Post that the chances of having a healthy newborn are “very, very small.”
Newkirk has the same concerns. She told last week that the baby has fluid in the brain. “He may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born,” the concerned woman said. She also revealed that they have named the baby Chance and will love him the same way, no matter what.
“Right now, the journey is for baby Chance to survive. Whatever condition God allows him to come here in, we’re going to love him just the same,” she said in an interview.
The decision by the authorities to keep Smith alive for the sake of her unborn child has raised serious questions regarding the family’s autonomy and medical consent amidst rigid legal frameworks. Abortion rights activists argue that while protecting the rights of unborn child under fetal personhood, the rights of the pregnant person are being fully ignored. Several women have raised their voices about how they were denied an abortion despite medical emergencies.
A brain-dead woman is being kept on life support against her family’s wishes—because of Georgia’s cruel abortion ban. Adriana Smith is not an incubator. She was a person. She deserves dignity. We must pass my Women’s Health Protection Act so no other family is subjected to this… https://t.co/rT1Q2Ezsxq
— Judy Chu (@RepJudyChu) May 16, 2025
As Adriana Smith’s case caught the attention of people around the world, the office of Georgia’s attorney general, Chris Carr released a statement mentioning that Georgia’s anti-abortion law doesn’t require the hospital to keep a woman on life support after she is declared brain dead. However, anti-abortion advocates have the opposite view. Georgia state Sen. Ed Setzler, who sponsored the abortion ban, stated that the hospital must do everything they can to save the child.
“I think this is an unusual circumstance, but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life. I think the hospital is acting appropriately,” he told the Associated Press.
