Adriana Smith, the Georgia woman declared brain-dead in February and then kept on life support, has a new son.
Chance, weighing just 1 pound and 13 ounces, arrived June 13. Smith’s family announced she was taken off life support on Tuesday.
In the wake of the controversy surrounding Smith’s complex situation, U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams of Atlanta, along with U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sara Jacobs of California, has introduced a congressional resolution urging the government to clarify how anti-abortion and fetal personhood laws should be interpreted by medical professionals.
Smith’s story made headlines around the country when her family revealed Emory University Hospital was keeping her on life support because doctors discovered she was pregnant.
Williams has vocally opposed the LIFE ACT — Georgia’s anti-abortion law — since it passed in 2019. An October 2022 survey by the University of Georgia found that 86% of Black Georgians strongly oppose the law.
“The clear intention of this was to create a chilling effect on doctors providing essential maternal healthcare services and on patients seeking lifesaving medical treatment,” Williams said in a statement. “We are now seeing this lack of clarity result in unimaginable cruelty to Adriana Smith and her family.”
According to a press release, the resolution urges the government to reaffirm and guarantee autonomy and dignity to pregnant people over their lives, well-being, and medical needs; repeal state laws that ban or criminalize abortion and abortion-related services; repeal laws that exclude pregnant people from having their advance directives come into effect; and clarify how anti-abortion and fetal personhood laws should be interpreted in medical settings.
How did we get here?
On Feb. 9, Smith began to complain about headaches. She went to two different hospitals for help, and was sent home with medication. According to her family’s GoFundMe page, the hospitals did not examine her or do any tests.
A week later, she was found unresponsive at home and on Feb. 19, Smith was officially declared brain-dead.
Read More: She Is Medically Brain Dead. Georgia’s Abortion Law Is Keeping Her Body Alive
Emory officials told her family she could not be removed from life support because she was pregnant, and it would violate Georgia law.
Smith was six weeks pregnant at the time, just past the cutoff established by the LIFE ACT, which bans abortions once fetal cardiac activity can be detected — usually around six weeks.
How is the baby?
Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, gave an update on her grandson on Monday.
“He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He’s here now,” she said.
The baby boy, named Chance, was born prematurely and is being treated in the hospital’s NICU. Newkirk said he was delivered by emergency cesarean section in the early morning on Friday, June 13.
Sunday, the family celebrated what would’ve been Smith’s 31st birthday.
Black woman and Georgia’s abortion ban
Smith is not the first Black woman to have her bodily autonomy impacted by Georgia’s restrictive anti-abortion law. Less than a year ago, ProPublica reported the deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, two Black women from metro Atlanta who died from abortion complications.
Read More: Georgia Is One of the Most Unsafe States to Give Birth. Abortion Limits Make It Worse.
Because of Georgia’s law, Thurman and Miller both ordered abortion pills online. Though they are a safe option for people trying to have a self-managed abortion, in both cases the women’s bodies failed to expel the fetal tissue.
Thurman sought medical treatment at Piedmont Henry Hospital, but doctors had to wait until her situation was considered life-threatening or possibly face up to 10 years in prison. By the time they performed the procedure on Thurman, 20 hours later, it was too late, and she died on the operating table at 28.
Miller suffered at home for days, taking painkillers to manage the pain from an incomplete abortion. The 41-year-old had lupus, diabetes, and hypertension, and was warned she could die trying to carry another pregnancy to term. Her family said she chose not to seek medical treatment because of Georgia’s abortion ban.
Miller’s husband found her unresponsive in bed, their 3-year-old daughter by her side.
Smith, Thurman, and Miller all left young children behind when they died.
“Adriana Smith deserved better at every point of this tragedy. Her family, along with baby Chance, remain in my family’s prayers as they navigate life after this unimaginably devastating situation that Georgia’s laws imposed on them,” said Williams in a statement.
Staff writer Alyssa Johnson contributed to this report.