Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old Black mother and registered nurse, has been declared brain dead for over 90 days. But under Georgia law, she remains on life support because she was pregnant at the time of her medical emergency. Her family says they’ve had no legal right to decide her care — even though she’s no longer alive by medical standards.
In February, Smith began experiencing severe headaches during the early stages of her pregnancy. At around nine weeks, she visited Northside Hospital in Atlanta, where her mother, April Newkirk, says she was treated and released without imaging or further testing. “They gave her some medication, but they didn’t do any tests, didn’t do any CT scans... If they had done that or kept her overnight, they would have caught it,” Newkirk told NBC 11Alive.
The following morning, Smith’s boyfriend found her struggling to breathe and called 911. She was taken to Emory University Hospital, where a CT scan revealed multiple blood clots in her brain. Doctors performed emergency surgery, but the damage was irreversible. Smith was declared brain dead shortly after the procedure. “She was gasping for air in her sleep, gargling. More than likely, it was blood,” Newkirk said.
Georgia’s LIFE Act abortion law leaves families out of critical decisions
Smith’s case has exposed a legal gap in Georgia’s 2019 Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act — also known as the “heartbeat law.” The measure bans most abortions once cardiac activity is detected in a fetus, typically around six weeks. There are limited exceptions: Rape, incest or cases where the mother’s life is at risk. But because Smith is legally brain dead, doctors say she no longer qualifies under the “medical emergency” clause.
This legal technicality means doctors are required to keep Smith on life support until the fetus reaches viability, which experts estimate to be around 32 weeks. As of now, the pregnancy has passed 21 weeks. Smith was recently transferred to Emory Midtown, a hospital with stronger obstetric resources, to continue care.
Newkirk says she was never asked what her daughter would have wanted. “I think every woman should have the right to make their own decision. And if not, then their partner or their parents,” she expressed. “I’m not saying we would have chosen to terminate her pregnancy, but what I’m saying is we should have had a choice.”
Uncertain future for the baby, lingering pain for Adriana Smith’s family
The family remains by Smith’s side, including her young son, who’s been told his mother is “just sleeping.” Newkirk fears the unborn baby could face serious health complications. “She’s pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born,” she said. “This decision should’ve been left to us.”
According to a 2010 report in BioMed Central, there were 30 documented cases between 1982 and 2010 of pregnant, brain-dead women being kept on life support. Only 12 of those babies survived the neonatal period. Risks for the fetus in such cases include developmental delays, infection, prematurity and long-term neurological conditions.
As explained by the Guttmacher Institute, Georgia is one of seven U.S. states with abortion restrictions that begin earlier than 18 weeks into pregnancy. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, 41 states have added new restrictions, including 12 with near-total bans. In most other states, families in Smith’s situation could have chosen to end life support. In Georgia, that choice has been taken away.
“This is torture for me,” Newkirk said. “I see my daughter breathing on a ventilator, but she’s not there. And her son — I bring him to see her.”