Medically brain dead pregnant women in Georgia, USA, live on ventilators until the baby is born, as removing patient life support constitutes an illegal abortion under state law.
Her 30-year-old mother and nurse Adriana Smith have been in nutrition since February. However, the doctor was Roev in 2022. Her life cannot humanely end because of Georgia's strict opposition laws that came into effect after the landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning Wade.
Despite being legally dead, Smith could remain on life support for several months before the baby can safely deliver.
Smith's mother, April Newkirk, told Atlanta news station WXIA in February that her daughter had experienced a severe headache and was admitted to Northside Hospital more than three months ago, but was released after receiving the drug.
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On the morning of her release, Smith's boyfriend woke up with her breathlessness and called for emergency services. Medical staff at Emory University Hospital determined that there was a blood clot in the brain and declared that the brain was dead.
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Newkirk said Smith is currently pregnant for 21 weeks. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pregnancy for the entire period can be between 39 and 40 weeks and six days, and removing breathing tubes and other life-saving support can kill the fetus.
Although neither hospital can comment on her case due to confidentiality laws, Emory issued a statement saying that it “used to support providers in making individualized treatment recommendations in compliance with Georgia's abortion laws and all other applicable laws, using consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance.”
“Our top priority is the safety and happiness of the patients we serve.”
According to Smith's family, her doctors said that after cardiac activity was detected in the fetus, the Georgia abortion law banned abortion, so they couldn't turn off the machine to keep her alive.
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The law was adopted in 2019, but came into effect in 2022, paving the way for a state-specific ban on abortions. Currently, there are 12 states banning abortions at all stages of pregnancy, and three states, including Georgia, have banned them in about six weeks.
Georgia's act of fairness and equality (life) for living infants allows abortion if pregnancy poses a threat to the life of a mother. Abortion is also permitted if pregnancy is medically useless or is the result of rape or incest. In that case, you can cancel your pregnancy for up to 20 weeks, but both of these situations require police reporting.
Smith's family, including her five-year-old son, visits her at the hospital regularly, but Newkirk said the fetus has fluid around the brain and is interested in health.
“She's pregnant with my grandchild. But he's blind, unable to walk and may not survive if he's born,” Newkirk told a local outlet.
Monica Simpson, executive director of Sistersong, the leading plaintiff in the state's legal challenge to the ban on abortion, told the Guardian that Smith's situation also raises issues surrounding her family's right to make medical decisions.
“Her family deserved the right to have decision-making power about her medical decisions,” Simpson said. “Instead, they have endured more than 90 days of recovery, expensive medical costs, and the cruelty of working towards solving and healing.”
Now, the plan is to keep Smith on life support until the child can survive outside the womb. They are considered “feasible” for about 24 weeks, according to the gynecologist at the US School of Obstetrics and Medicine.
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