A Georgia family is speaking out after 30-year-old nurse and mother Adriana Smith was declared brain dead in February but remains on life support due to her pregnancy.
Smith had gone to Northside Hospital with severe headaches but was sent home. The next day, her boyfriend found her unresponsive. Doctors at Emory University Hospital discovered brain clots and declared her brain dead. She was 8 weeks pregnant at the time and is now at 21 weeks.
Her family says Georgia’s strict abortion law, which bans abortion once cardiac activity is detected, has prevented doctors from removing life support — even though Smith is legally dead. “It’s torture for me,” her mother, April Newkirk, told WXIA. “I see my daughter breathing, but she’s not there.”
Doctors aim to keep Smith on life support until her fetus reaches viability around 32 weeks. Newkirk says the baby may have severe complications and questions why her daughter didn’t receive better care initially.
Experts argue Georgia law doesn’t require life support for brain-dead pregnant women, but uncertainty remains post-Roe. Still, state Sen. Ed Setzler defended the hospital’s actions, saying they are trying to save the child.
Meanwhile, Smith’s young son visits her in the hospital — unaware of the legal fight that keeps her body alive.