A case of a brain-dead woman who is over five months pregnant is stoking controversy in Georgia over whether her life support should be pulled.
Adriana Smith’s family claims that doctors at Emory University Hospital said they could not turn off Smith’s life support because doing so would end her pregnancy in violation of Georgia’s heartbeat law, which prohibits most abortions after around the sixth week of pregnancy. Georgia’s Republican attorney general and advocates of the Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act have rebuffed those accusations, arguing that removing a pregnant woman from life support does not constitute an “abortion” as defined by the state’s LIFE Act.
Recommended Stories
- Biden COVID-19 adviser says president likely had cancer when he took office
- Biden diagnosed with aggressive form of prostate cancer: What to know
- Conservatives split over IVF as White House weighs policy recommendations
The debate launched on Feb. 19, when Smith was declared brain-dead in a sudden medical emergency. At the time, she was two months to nine weeks along in her pregnancy. The medical episode came after Smith had experienced intense headaches since Feb. 9, with subsequent CT scans showing multiple blood clots in her brain.
For the past three months, Smith has been kept on life support against the wishes of her mother, April Newkirk. She says hospital staff told the family that doctors are legally required to maintain life support until Smith’s baby reaches viability, which is when he can survive outside the womb, due to the LIFE Act. Doctors are hoping to keep Smith breathing until her son reaches 32 weeks’ gestation, or roughly another 10 weeks.
Newkirk has expressed fear over raising a child with defects, as doctors told her the baby has some fluid on his brain.
“She’s been breathing through machines for more than 90 days,” Newkirk told 11 Alive. “It’s torture for me. I see my daughter breathing, but she’s not there. And her son — I bring him to see her. She’s pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born.”
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr pushed back against claims that the LIFE Act is responsible for keeping Smith alive against her family’s wishes.
“There is nothing in the LIFE Act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,” a spokesperson for Carr told the Washington Examiner. “Removing life support is not an action ‘with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy.’”
Georgia began enforcing the LIFE Act in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The law bans abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat.
While the law has exceptions for rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger, Smith, now roughly 22 weeks pregnant, is no longer considered at risk herself because she is brain-dead.
Hospital personnel have responded to the debate by saying it “uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance to support our providers as they make individualized treatment recommendations in compliance with Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.”
“Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve,” a spokesperson for Emory Healthcare said in comments to MSNBC News.
Groups supportive of the LIFE Act have waged arguments similar to Carr’s that the heartbeat law is not to blame for holding up doctors from pulling Smith’s life support. Live Action, an anti-abortion organization, wrote last week that another Georgia law passed by the legislature years ago, when Roe v. Wade was still in effect, could be driving Emory Healthcare’s legal concerns.
“Due to the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care Act of 2007, removing a pregnant woman from life support is not legal in Georgia — unless her preborn child isn’t viable and she additionally has an advance directive that states her wishes to be withdrawn from life-sustaining measures,” Live Action wrote. “It does not appear that Smith had an advance directive in place. Had Smith had an advance directive in place specifying her desire for no life-sustaining measures, doctors would have been legally allowed to remove her life support, since her child was nine weeks gestation and had not reached typical gestational age for ‘viability.’”
The case has driven a partisan wedge between Georgia lawmakers.
Republican state Sen. Ed Setzler, who sponsored the LIFE Act, said he supported Emory’s push to sustain Smith’s pregnancy due to moral and ethical concerns.
“I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child,” Setzler told the Associated Press. “I think this is an unusual circumstance, but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life. I think the hospital is acting appropriately.”
Rep. Nikema Williams (D-GA), an Atlanta-area Democrat, accused Republican politicians of “forcing people through unimaginable pain” in response to the matter in a statement Friday.
TRUMP SET TO FREEZE PLANNED PARENTHOOD FAMILY PLANNING FUNDS PENDING DEI REVIEW
“Everyone deserves the freedom to decide what’s best for their families, futures, and lives,” Williams said. “Adriana’s story is gut-wrenching. It’s also a painful reminder of the consequences when politicians refuse to trust us to make our own medical decisions.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Emory University Hospital for comment.