The case of Adriana Smith is a tragedy wrapped in an enigma. Smith was a pregnant Georgia woman who, in February, complained of severe headaches. She was seen by a doctor and given medicine, but she ended up suffering a catastrophic event that left her brain dead. Smith was kept on life support in order to give her unborn child a chance at viability. The reason this heartbreaking tale went viral internationally is because the pro-abortion left pushed the narrative that Smith's family was "forced" to keep her on life support because of Georgia's heartbeat law. This law restricts a woman from getting an abortion once a viable heartbeat is established, usually around six weeks. The law also recognizes fetal personhood: that the fetus is a fully-formed person, and has the rights and dignity of any other living human being outside of the womb.
There were many unanswered questions about the case simply due to HIPAA laws. The medical decisions made are under privacy protection, so all we know is what Smith's family has chosen to reveal. And what they have revealed is sparse, at best, and a bit convoluted.
The family of a pregnant metro Atlanta woman declared brain dead is claiming she is being kept alive only to comply with Georgia’s six-week abortion ban law.
According to information the family of Adriana Smith provided on a GoFundMe campaign page Friday, Smith was placed on life support after suffering a medical incident in February. At the time, she was eight weeks pregnant, but Georgia’s abortion law, also called the heartbeat ban, bars abortion procedures after six weeks of pregnancy when a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
“Due to expecting her unborn child she (will) be kept on life support due to heartbeat law in Georgia,” the GoFundMe states, whose organizer was April Newkirk, Smith’s mother. “We had no say so regarding her lifeless body and unborn child.”
Georgia’s abortion ban, known as the LIFE Act, allows for exceptions to the limitations in cases of rape, incest or if the life of the mother is at stake.
Smith doesn’t necessarily fit neatly into any of those categories.
Newkirk called the situation “deeply saddening and heartbreaking.”
Emory Hospital Midtown, in a statement to Atlanta News First, noted that they comply with Georgia’s abortion law and use “consensus from clinical experts, medical literature and legal guidance to support our providers as they make individualized treatment recommendations.”
“Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve,” the hospital said in a statement.
Emory Healthcare, which runs the hospital, has not explained how doctors decided to keep Smith on life support except to say in a statement they considered “Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.”
Emory Healthcare is neither required, legally or morally, to explain anything to anyone but the family. I find it interesting that none of these pro-abortion advocates and journalists are asking what those other "applicable laws" might be that also factored into the decision to keep Smith on life support. Instead, they took the Heartbeat law narrative and ran with it whole cloth.
It’s more likely that Georgia’s law regarding withdrawing life support for pregnant patients is the issue. GA Code § 31-32-9 states that doctors can’t withdraw life support from pregnant patients unless both (1) the fetus isn’t viable and (2) the patient had an advanced directive explicitly stating she wanted withdrawal of life-sustaining measures.
Note this code isn’t a result of Dobbs. It was enacted 15 years prior, in 2007. Most states have similar measures, including pro-choice states such as Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.
But narratives drive agendas, and the agenda of the pro-abortion side is to neuter and repeal every heartbeat law. It's bad for business when women discover they can choose life. So, the Adriana Smith tragedy has become their most recent avatar to advocate against draconian laws that limit their ability to keep killing babies. As per usual, the Left has evoked their favorite imagery of "The Handmaid's Tale," repeatedly referring to Smith as an "incubator," rather than an expectant mother who was dealt a terrible hand. They say that keeping Smith on life support is undignified and inhuman, while they dehumanize Smith themselves by the terminology they use.
Another riddle: Where is Smith's boyfriend, the father of this child? It was reported that he was the one who rushed her to the hospital when she couldn't breathe and was making gurgling noises in her sleep. Once admitted, it was discovered that the headaches were due to blood clots in Smith's brain, but it soon became apparent she would not recover. Yet, every news story mentions Smith's mother, April Newkirk, without any mention of how the father of the unborn child was handling all of this. Once again, the driving pro-abortion narrative excludes the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the father, deeming him irrelevant when he should be an equal partner in family decisions.
While the goal of Smith's doctors was to keep her on life support until the baby reached 32 weeks of gestation, her body further deteriorated. At 28 weeks, a C-section was performed to retrieve the baby. Thus, Chance was given a chance to thrive outside of the womb.
According to her mother, April Newkirk, the infant, named Chance, was born prematurely Friday, June 13, around 4:41 a.m. by emergency Cesarean section.
Newkirk said Chance weighs about 1 pound 13 ounces and is in NICU.
"He's expected to be OK," Newkirk said. "He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He's here now."
The vitriol and evil being directed toward this baby fighting to survive is disgusting and sad. These actors want a child to die in order to prove their narrative correct. Absolutely stunning.
Then there are the ones who are making it about race — that the only reason Smith was "experimented" on was because she was Black.
The larger story surrounding this tragedy is the muted response from pro-life organizations and faith leaders. This was an opportunity to counter a false narrative and speak to the ability of medical science properly applied to uphold life rather than destroy it. Instead, the loud screeds of death merchants furthered the conversation rather than truth, compassion, and common sense. While heartbeat laws are indeed saving preborn life, the response to baby Chance and his struggle to keep thriving continues to expose how far removed we have become from a culture that upholds life. Stronger life-affirming voices within our culture are necessary, and prayers for Smith's family and baby Chance are sorely needed.