Adriana Smith’s case is the latest instance in which Georgia’s six-week abortion ban and its impacts on Black women have raised serious concerns.
Reproductive health advocates are sounding the alarm over the case of a pregnant woman in Georgia who was declared brain dead months ago but must now stay on life support, according to her family, because of the state’s strict abortion ban law.
Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old nurse from the metro Atlanta area, experienced a medical emergency in February that involved blood clots in her brain. Smith, who was about nine weeks pregnant at the time, was declared legally dead, her mother, April Newkirk, told Atlanta TV station 11Alive Action News.
Newkirk said that staff at Emory University’s network of hospitals told her they cannot remove the devices that are helping Smith to breathe because of the state’s six-week abortion ban. The staff said they are legally required to keep Smith breathing until the fetus reaches viability, Newkirk added.
“She’s been breathing through machines for more than 90 days,” Newkirk told the television station of Smith, who also has a 5-year-old son. “It’s torture for me. I see my daughter breathing, but she’s not there. And her son—I bring him to see her.”
The case puts a spotlight on the consequences of restrictive abortion bans following the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed a federal constitutional right to an abortion. Georgia’s abortion ban has an exception for a pregnancy that threatens the life of the pregnant person. But Smith’s case doesn’t fall under those exceptions, her family said. Since Smith is brain-dead, the pregnancy no longer poses a risk to her life. And because Smith’s fetus still has a heartbeat, the family said that she must still be kept on life support to comply with Georgia’s abortion ban.
Rep. Nikema Williams, an Atlanta-area Democrat, said in a statement Friday that Smith and her family “deserve better.”
“Everyone deserves the freedom to decide what’s best for their families, futures, and lives. Instead, anti-abortion politicians like Donald Trump and Governor Brian Kemp are forcing people through unimaginable pain,” Williams said. “Adriana’s story is gut-wrenching. It’s also a painful reminder of the consequences when politicians refuse to trust us to make our own medical decisions.”
Smith initially sought medical treatment in February for intense headaches, according to her mother. She went to Northside Hospital, where she was given medication and sent home. The following day, at her home, her boyfriend found her gasping for air. Representatives for Northside Hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Smith was then seen by and sent to different doctors throughout the Emory University hospital system, including Emory University Hospital, where she worked as a nurse. A CT-scan showed blood clots in her brain. She was subsequently declared brain-dead, which means she is considered legally dead.
Smith is now 21 weeks pregnant. Newkirk said the hospital staff told her they plan to keep her daughter breathing until she is at least 32 weeks pregnant.
Representatives for Emory told Associated Press that the hospital network could not comment on an individual case because of privacy rules but said in a statement: “Emory Healthcare uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance to support our providers as they make individualized treatment recommendations in compliance with Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws. Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve.”
Alicia Stallworth, director of Georgia campaigns for the reproductive rights advocacy group Reproductive Freedom for All, called Smith’s condition ‘a devastating tragedy’.”But what makes it even more unconscionable is that her family has been denied the space and dignity to grieve,” said Stallworth. “Instead of being allowed to say goodbye, they are being forced to endure an agonizing limbo because of the state’s extreme abortion ban. This is not care. This is not justice. It is a cruelty rooted in a system that refuses to see Black women as fully human, even in death.”
Newkirk told 11Alive Action News, Georgia’s NBC affiliate, that the state’s strict abortion laws have robbed her family of the choice about whether to continue Smith’s pregnancy and the ability to make decisions on their own terms. They’re now left in limbo and facing the prospect of paying for several more weeks of expensive medical care. “I think every woman should have the right to make their own decision,” Newkirk told the station. “And if not, then their partner or their parents.”
Smith’s fetus also has fluid on the brain, Newkirk said, carrying unknown implications for his health and future. “She’s pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born,” she said.“This decision should’ve been left to us. Now we’re left wondering what kind of life he’ll have — and we’re going to be the ones raising him.”
SOURCE: 19th News, by Grace Panetta, Barbara Rodriguez, 16 May 2025.
[Editor’s Note: I am told that in any case, the dead woman’s body will already have begun to deteriorate and will not survive the length of the pregnancy, ensuring that the fetus will not survive either.]