Brain-Dead Georgia Woman Kept on Life Support Due to Abortion Law
Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old pregnant nurse, was declared brain dead in February after suffering blood clots in her brain. Though legally dead, she remains on life support over three months later because Georgia’s strict abortion law bans ending a pregnancy once fetal cardiac activity is detected — which happened at 8 weeks. She is now at 21 weeks.
Doctors told her family that removing life support would lead to the fetus’s death, which could be considered abortion under state law. Her mother, April Newkirk, says the situation is heartbreaking: “She’s breathing through machines, but she’s not there.”
Experts argue the law doesn’t actually require keeping brain-dead pregnant women alive, but hospitals fear legal consequences. The fetus has been diagnosed with possible severe medical issues, but the hospital plans to keep Adriana on machines until around 32 weeks of gestation.
The case has sparked legal and ethical debates. Advocates say the family should have the right to decide, while lawmakers who support the law say preserving the fetus’s life is the right course.
Meanwhile, Adriana’s 5-year-old son visits her, unaware of the legal fight surrounding his mother’s condition.
