“Life Act”

Diya Ravi

June 20, 2025

Due to Georgia’s strict abortion laws, a brain-dead woman’s body was kept alive for months because she was carrying a nine-week-old baby. After giving birth to a premature baby via C-section, her family confirmed that she had been removed from life support. 

A 31-year-old mother and nurse of a five-year-old boy, Adriana Smith, was declared brain dead in February after suffering from blood clots in her brain. April Newkirk, her mother, said Smith initially sought medical help for severe headaches but was sent home from a hospital with only medication. No imaging or scans were performed, and the next day, Smith woke up gasping for air. She was rushed to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where she was declared brain dead.

Under Georgia’s anti-abortion law, one of the strictest in the U.S., doctors said they could not legally remove her from life support or halt measures that sustained her pregnancy, since at the time Smith was approximately nine weeks pregnant. The law, known as the “Life Act,” prohibits abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detected. This typically occur around six weeks and only allows exceptions for rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is at risk, provided there is an accompanying police report.

On June 13, via C-section, Smith’s baby bo,y named Chance was born. He weighed 1 pound and 13 ounces and currently remains in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where he is receiving specialized care. Newkirk says, “he’s expected to be OK; he’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him.” Four days after her son’s birth on June 17, Smith was removed from life support. 

Newkirk said, “It is hard to process. I’m her mother. I shouldn’t be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me.” Intense debates about reproductive rights, medical ethics, and the role of families in end-of-life decision-making were ignited by this case. 

Stating that a simple CT scan during her first hospital visit could have identified blood clots in time, Newkirk spoke out against the medical care her daughter received. “All women should have a choice about their bodies,” she added. “And I think people need to understand that what happened to Adriana could happen to anyone.” 

In 2019, Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed Georgia’s abortion ban. It only took effect after the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022 by the Supreme Court, which eliminated deferral protections for abortion access. 

According to legal experts like bioethicists and constitutional scholars, Georgia’s law does not explicitly require a brain-dead pregnant woman to be kept on life support. The vague language and high stakes for healthcare providers, however, have led many hospitals to err on the side of caution, aka be on the safer side. 

Chance, the baby, continues to receive care in the NICU. Details about who will raise him haven’t been shared yet as Smith’s family continues to grieve their loss while advocating for changes in how reproductive healthcare laws are interpreted and written.