Hospital Tells Family Brain-Dead Georgia Woman Must Carry Fetus To Birth Because Of Abortion Ban
The case of Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old pregnant nurse in Georgia who was declared brain dead in February but remains on life support, is raising urgent and complex questions about abortion laws, fetal personhood, and racial health disparities.
Smith was around eight weeks pregnant when she was declared brain dead on February 19. According to a GoFundMe page organized by her mother, doctors told the family that Georgia’s strict anti-abortion law required her to be kept on life support so the fetus could continue developing. With her due date still months away, her family is left in limbo—uncertain if the baby can survive, or whether it will be born with disabilities.
Georgia Law Complicates End-of-Life Decisions
Georgia’s law bans abortion after cardiac activity is detected, around six weeks into a pregnancy. The law also grants legal rights to fetuses as “members of the species Homo sapiens,” a move that legal scholars say complicates medical decision-making in cases like Smith’s.
“This is the kind of case that law professors have been talking about for a long time when they talk about fetal personhood,” said David S. Cohen, a professor at Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law.
Cohen explained that because of the law’s language, the hospital may legally treat both Smith and her fetus as separate patients. Once Smith was placed on life support, doctors may have felt obligated to maintain her bodily functions to preserve the life of the fetus—even though she had already been declared dead.
Family Left Without a Say
Emory Healthcare, which runs the hospital where Smith is being treated, has declined to provide details, saying only that it is following “Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.” Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, said the family feels powerless in the situation.
“She went to the hospital complaining of headaches, was given medication, and sent home,” Newkirk told WXIA, a local Atlanta station. Hours later, her boyfriend found her gasping for air. Doctors later discovered blood clots in her brain and declared her brain dead.
Smith’s mother says her daughter’s condition—and the inability to make end-of-life decisions—has turned into a nightmare. “It’s devastating,” Newkirk said. “We don’t know if the baby will survive, and if it does, what kind of life it will have.”
Black Women, Medical Racism, and Reproductive Rights
Advocates say Smith’s case highlights the longstanding crisis in how Black women are treated in the healthcare system. “Like so many Black women, Adriana spoke up for herself,” said Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, one of the organizations that sued Georgia over its abortion ban. “She expressed what she felt in her body, and as a health care provider, she knew how to navigate the system—but by the time she was diagnosed, it was already too late.”
The CDC reports that Black women in the U.S. experience maternal mortality rates more than three times higher than white women. In 2023, the rate for Black women was 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births.
No Clear Legal or Medical Path Forward
Georgia’s law does not explicitly address what happens when a pregnant woman is declared brain dead. While it allows for abortion to preserve the life or health of the mother, that exception appears not to apply after the woman is legally dead.
State Rep. Nabilah Islam Parkes has sent a letter to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr requesting a formal legal opinion on how the law should be applied in cases like Smith’s.
Across the country, only three other states have six-week abortion bans similar to Georgia’s, while 12 ban abortion at all stages of pregnancy. According to Pregnancy Justice, at least 17 states have laws on the books that recognize some form of fetal personhood.
Life Support or Body Maintenance?
Medical experts emphasize that while Smith is on a ventilator and receiving other forms of support, she is legally dead. What’s happening now is referred to by some as “somatic support”—maintaining the body’s functions to allow the fetus to grow.
There’s little science to guide doctors in these scenarios. “We don’t have great science to guide clinical decision making in these cases,” said Dr. Kavita Arora, an OB-GYN in North Carolina. “There simply aren’t a lot of cases like this.”
A similar case in Florida in 2023 required round-the-clock hormone treatments, feeding tubes, and constant fetal monitoring before a healthy baby was delivered via surgery at 33 weeks. The 2023 paper describing the case also warned that the emotional and financial costs should not be underestimated.
The Financial Toll of Uncertain Care
It’s unclear whether Smith had health insurance. JoAnn Volk, a professor at Georgetown University, said coverage in such cases often depends on whether the care is considered “medically necessary,” something insurers determine on a case-by-case basis.
Meanwhile, Smith’s family is trying to raise $275,000 through a crowdfunding campaign to support her 7-year-old son and prepare for the possible long-term care of the unborn baby. With every day that passes, the legal, medical, and ethical stakes grow higher—yet the family still has no clear answers.
Adriana Smith’s story is a tragic, real-life collision of reproductive law, racial inequality, and a health care system struggling to respond.
