A brain-dead woman kept alive for her fetus: the real cost of abortion bans in Georgia
In February 2025, a story unfolded in the United States that shocked even the most hardened news audiences. Adriana Smith, a 31-year-old nurse from Georgia, was declared brain-dead due to a cerebral hemorrhage. And yet, for four more months, her body was kept alive by machines. Not because there was hope for her survival — but because she was pregnant. And in Georgia, terminating a pregnancy, even under these circumstances, is illegal.
What Happened: A Timeline
Adriana was nine weeks pregnant when she collapsed into a coma. Doctors confirmed brain death — a diagnosis that is both medically and legally equivalent to death. Yet life support machines were not turned off.
In Georgia, the LIFE Act prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy if a fetal heartbeat is detected. Adriana’s fetus was still alive. So despite her body beginning to decompose, it was sustained artificially to incubate the pregnancy.
Her family objected. They wanted Adriana to rest in peace. But doctors refused, saying ending the pregnancy would be considered an abortion — a criminal act.
Legal Confusion: What the Law Says
- The LIFE Act (Georgia, 2019, enforced in 2022) bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
- The law provides no clear guidance for cases involving brain death.
- Doctors feared criminal charges if they ended life support — even though Adriana was already legally dead.
Fear of prosecution trumped ethical reasoning. Even the state’s Attorney General later admitted: turning off the machines would not have been an abortion. But Georgia’s laws are so rigid that physicians acted out of extreme caution.
The Birth of Chance: A Child From a Dead Woman
In June 2025, doctors performed what was formally a C-section — but in reality, it was a postmortem surgical procedure. Adriana had been dead for months. Only her body remained, maintained by machines.
The baby, named Chance, was born weighing less than 600 grams. He has been diagnosed with hydrocephalus, and doctors fear serious cognitive and physical disabilities. He is now in intensive care. His future is uncertain. And the family must care for a child they never chose to bring into the world this way.
A Family Without a Choice
Adriana’s mother, April Newkirk, said in an interview: they wanted an abortion. They did not want Adriana’s body used as an incubator. What happened, they said, was “torture” — four months of unnatural existence, driven only by fear of legal consequences.
Why This Is Deeply Wrong
- A woman’s body should never be a tool of the state. Using a deceased body as a vessel for pregnancy is ethically horrifying.
- Laws without exceptions cause harm. In this case, to the family — and perhaps to the child himself.
- The family’s wishes were ignored. No one asked their permission to use their daughter’s body in this way.
What Must Change
- Reform the law: the LIFE Act and similar legislation must include clear exceptions for brain death.
- Respect family decision-making in situations where the patient cannot speak for herself.
- Expand the concept of medical dignity: the body should not be used against the family’s will for a biological process.
- Encourage public discourse: do we have the right to turn a woman’s corpse into a vessel for someone else’s political ideology?
Adriana Smith’s story is not just a personal tragedy. It’s a warning to us all. When the state decides a woman’s body must serve a purpose even after death, we lose our humanity.
Maybe Chance truly has a chance. But he should never have entered the world this way. His mother deserved peace — not four months of bodily decay in the name of law.
This is not just about abortion. It’s about dignity. And about a choice that must belong to the person — not the law.
About the Author
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