Brain-dead mom forced to be kept alive because of Georgia’s anti-abortion laws gives birth via C-section
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Brain-dead mother being removed from life support after giving birth
- Adriana Smith, a brain-dead 31-year-old woman from Atlanta, gave birth on 13 June and will be removed from life support on Tuesday, according to her family.
- Smith was declared brain dead at eight weeks pregnant in February due to blood clots, but was kept on life support because of Georgia's abortion law, the LIFE Act, which doesn't clearly address brain death cases.
- Smith's mother, April Newkirk, said that the baby boy, named Chance, was born prematurely via emergency C-section.
- Chance weighed just 1 pound 13 ounces at birth. He is currently in the NICU and is expected to be all right, Newkirk said.
- Georgia's 2019 "heartbeat law" bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks, except in medical emergencies, leading to legal ambiguity in Smith's case.