The unborn baby of a brain dead Georgia woman may be born blind, the family of Adriana Smith said. Smith is on life support at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital. She is being kept alive due to the state’s law banning abortions.
Smith, 30, was nine weeks pregnant when she was declared brain dead in February. Emory Hospital refuses to take Smith off a ventilator because she is pregnant. Smith’s case has stirred emotions and raised questions about abortion laws and hospitals playing politics.
“It’s torture, Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, told a reporter. “I see my daughter breathing, but she’s not there.”
Newkirk said Smith went to Northside Hospital when she experienced intense headaches in February. The hospital sent her home on medication without running any diagnostic tests.
The next morning, Smith’s boyfriend found her unresponsive and making a gurgling noise. She was rushed to Emory Decatur and transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where she worked as a nurse.
A CT scan showed blood clots and very little electrical activity in her brain. Smith was declared brain dead and later moved to Emory Midtown hospital in Atlanta.
Newkirk said blood clots and a brain bleed may have restricted oxygen to her daughter’s unborn baby. There’s a risk that he will be born with severe disabilities.
“My grandson may be blind, may not be able to walk. We don’t know if he’ll live once she has him.” Newkirk told WXIA. “And I’m not saying we would have chose to terminate her pregnancy. What I’m saying is we should have had a choice,” Newkirk added.
Georgia’s LIFE Act law bans abortions if a fetal heart is detected in the womb. Emory Hospital is following the letter of the law by keeping Smith alive until early in the 3rd trimester when the baby can be delivered safely.
“Let me be plain: this is a grotesque distortion of medical ethics and human decency,” Georgia State Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes wrote.
Georgia’s Attorney General Chris Carr says nothing in the LIFE Act law forces a hospital to keep a woman alive so her baby can be delivered.
“There is nothing in the LIFE Act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,” Carr’s office said in a statement.
Carr, a Republican, added that removing life support is not the same as terminating a pregnancy.
Emory Hospital insists it has consulted with clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance to make sure the hospital is “in compliance with Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.”
A GoFundMe for Adriana Smith’s 7-year-old son has raised over $103,000.
