A mom is speaking out about the pain her family’s been going through as her pregnant daughter, who’s brain-dead, is being kept alive because of a strict abortion law.
Adriana Smith, who was a nurse and mom from Atlanta, started having bad headaches earlier this year in February. She was already nine weeks pregnant when she went to get help, but was sent home with some meds.
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The next morning, her boyfriend heard strange noises and realized something was very wrong. He rushed her to the hospital. A scan showed she had several blood clots in her brain.
Doctors said it was too late. She was declared brain-dead.
A tough law is keeping her on life support
Now things have taken an even more heartbreaking turn. Adriana is still hooked up to machines three months later.
The reason? Georgia’s “heartbeat bill” doesn’t allow ending a pregnancy after six weeks. That rule came after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
The way the law is written makes things unclear
The law says abortion isn’t allowed if a heartbeat can be heard, unless it’s an emergency or the pregnancy won’t survive.
They’ll only allow it if the pregnant person’s life is at risk, to protect her physical health, or if the fetus isn’t expected to make it through the pregnancy.
Her mother calls the situation torture
Speaking to 11Alive, her mom, April Newkirk, said the family have endured 90 days of “torture” as Adriana’s case meets a legal gray area.
“She’s been breathing through machines for more than 90 days,” she said. “It’s torture for me. I see my daughter breathing, on a ventilator but she’s not there. And I’m touching her.
“And her son, I bring him to see her.”
Her little boy thinks she’s just sleeping
April said it’s even more heartbreaking that her grandson believes his mom is “just sleeping”.
She believes women should have the final say
“I think every woman should have the right to make their own decision,” she continued. “And if not, then their partner or their parents.”
Not having a choice makes it all worse
April said they don’t even know what decision they would’ve made about Adriana’s pregnancy. But the fact that they didn’t have a choice has made everything more painful.
And the medical bills aren’t helping either.
There are risks for the baby too
“She’s pregnant with my grandson. But my grandson may be blind, may not be able to walk, wheelchair bound, we don’t know if he’ll live once she has him,” she told the outlet.
It was never about wanting to end it
“It should have been left up to the family because, I’m in my fifties, her dad is in his fifties, so we’re gonna have the responsibility with her partner to raise her sons.”
“And I’m not saying that we would have chosen to terminate her pregnancy, what I’m saying is we should have had a choice.”
Doctors have a plan for when to deliver
She says doctors are planning to keep Adriana alive until the baby reaches 32 weeks, then they’ll induce her.
