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Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old black mother and nurse, has been declared for over 90 days for Hirnntoll. But according to Georgia Law, she stays life preservation because she was pregnant at the time of her medical emergency. Your family says you have no legal right to decide your care – although she no longer lives according to medical standards.
Smith began to experience severe headaches in the early stages of her pregnancy in February. After about nine weeks she visited the Northside Hospital in Atlanta, where her mother, April Newkirk, without imaging or other tests was treated and released. “They gave their medication, but they did not carry out any tests, did not do any CT scans … If they had done it or kept them overnight, they would have caught it,” Newkirk told NBC 11alive.
The next morning Smith's friend found her breathing and called 911. She was taken to the Emory University Hospital, where a CT scan unveiled several blood clots in her brain. The doctors carried out an emergency operation, but the damage was irreversible. Smith was declared dead shortly after the procedure for brain. “She grabbed air in her sleep and struggled to air. It was most likely blood,” said Newkirk.
The law of Georgia's abortion law has families released from critical decisions
Smith's case has uncovered a legal gap in Georgia's Living infant fairness and equality (Life) Act by Georgia 2019 – also known as the “heartbeat law”. The measurement prohibits most abortions as soon as the heart activity is detected in a fetus, typically about six weeks. There are only limited exceptions: rape, incest or cases in which the life of the mother is at risk. But because Smith is legally brain dead, the doctors say that they no longer qualify as part of the “Medical Emergency” clause.
This legal technology means that doctors are obliged to keep Smith in terms of life preservation until the fetus reaches life capability, which the experts appreciate for around 32 weeks. The pregnancy has now passed 21 weeks. Smith was recently transferred to Emory Midtown, a hospital with stronger obstetric resources, to continue care.
Newkirk says she was never asked what her daughter would have wanted. “I think every woman should have the right to make her own decision. And if not, then your partner or her parents,” she expressed. “I don't say that we decided to end their pregnancy, but I say we should have a choice.”
Uncertain future for the baby, persistent pain for Adriana Smith's family
The family stays on Smith's side, including her little son, who was said that his mother “only sleeps”. Newkirk fears that the unborn baby could be exposed to serious health complications. “She is pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, cannot survive if he was born,” she said. “This decision should have been left to us.”
According to a 2010 report in Biomed Central, there were 30 documented cases of pregnant, brainy women between 1982 and 2010 who were kept on life preservation. Only 12 of these babies survived the newborn. In such cases, the risks of the fetus include developmental delays, infections, premature babies and long -term neurological diseases.
As the Guttmacher Institute explains, Georgia is one of seven US states with abortion restrictions that begin 18 weeks ago after pregnancy. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, 41 countries added new restrictions, including 12 banned with almost complete. In most other states, families in Smith's situation could have decided to end life preservation. This election was taken away in Georgia.
“This is torture for me,” said Newkirk. “I see my daughter antenowned with a ventilation device, but she's not there. And her son – I bring him to see her.”
