Brain-dead Atlanta mother gives birth

Atlanta-area nurse Adriana Smith gave birth to her son by cesarean section on Friday after months on life support, her mother, April Newkirk, told local news outlet WXIA in an interview released on Tuesday. The baby, Chance, is in the NICU and weighs about 1 pound, 13 ounces, according to Newkirk. He’s fighting, but they expect him to make it through, she added. The family planned to take Smith off life support on Tuesday, Newkirk said.

What led to Smith's condition? Smith was about eight weeks pregnant in February when doctors declared her brain-dead from multiple blood clots. Smith initially visited a local hospital for treatment after experiencing intense headaches. Doctors released Smith after giving her some medication, Newkirk said in a previous interview with WXIA. Smith was rushed to the hospital the next morning after she woke up struggling to breathe. A CT scan revealed the clots, but it was too late for medical intervention and Smith was declared legally brain-dead.

Newkirk accused the medical staff of failing her daughter. If staffers had only gone the extra mile and done a CT scan when she first presented symptoms, the clots would have been detected, Newkirk said. Everybody deserves health care, and the ball was dropped, she added.

Citing Georgia’s heartbeat law, doctors placed Smith on life support in order to let her unborn child develop to a point when he could survive outside the womb.

Why did her story gain national attention? Smith’s story sparked mass conversation online, with some taking issue with the decision to keep her on life support for the sake of the child. Newkirk said she believed her daughter would feel the same about the situation. All women should have a choice about their bodies, Newkirk said. President of the pro-abortion group Reproductive Freedom for All, Mini Timmaraju, accused the state’s pro-life laws of creating a living nightmare for Smith’s family. Families should have the freedom to make their own decisions about their loved ones, but instead the state is prolonging their suffering, she said in a May statement. A coalition of advocacy groups marked Smith’s birthday on Sunday with a rally at a local church. This is control, not healthcare, an event poster stated.

Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga., introduced a resolution on Tuesday that she said honored Smith’s memory by championing policy changes to protect what Williams characterized as the autonomy and dignity of “pregnant people.” The resolution called for government leaders to repeal state laws protecting unborn children and clarify how fetal personhood laws should be interpreted in medical settings, according to a Tuesday release.

But what are pro-life advocates saying? Last month, the sponsor of Georgia’s heartbeat law, Georgia Republican state Sen. Ed Setzler, applauded the hospital’s decision to keep Smith on life support. Setzler characterized Smith’s situation as an unusual circumstance and said it was completely appropriate for the hospital to do whatever it could to save the child’s life, according to the Associated Press. The hospital’s actions only underscored the value of human life, he added.

Earlier this month, the pro-life group Live Action issued a statement accusing pro-abortion groups of failing to champion baby Chance’s right to live. Instead of hoping that one life would be saved, pro-abortion voices demanded that both Smith and her baby die—while falsely blaming pro-life laws in the process, Live Action said.

Dig deeper: Read Bethel McGrew's opinion piece on the situation.