Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Fetus of brain dead Georgia woman kept alive due to abortion ban is growing, says family
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/20/pregnant-georgia-woman-brain-deadHospital plans to keep Adriana Smith on life support until August, when doctors will deliver baby via C-section
Is this what right-wing "christinsanity" means?
The fetus of a brain dead Georgia woman who is being kept alive to carry out her pregnancy is continuing to grow, the woman’s mother said late Monday, days after the controversial case exploded into the national news and sparked questions about the ethics of using the state’s anti-abortion law to keep a woman with no chance of recovery on life support.
“He has his toes, arms, limbs – everything is forming,” the woman’s mother, April Newkirk, told the local news station 11Alive. “We’re just hoping he makes it.”
The Georgia woman, Adriana Smith, went to a hospital in February with what she thought was an intense headache, Newkirk, told 11 Alive, which first reported the story. At the time, Smith was about eight weeks into her pregnancy.
The hospital released Smith after providing her with medication, Newkirk said. The next day, Smith was rushed back to the hospital after she woke up gasping for air. The hospital diagnosed her with blood clots in her brain. Within hours of her first visit, she was declared brain dead.
Under Georgia law, abortion is banned after about six weeks of pregnancy. That ban also contains provisions that strengthen the concept of “fetal personhood”, a doctrine that holds that embryos and fetuses should be considered people – and, as such, are entitled to full legal rights and protections. Newkirk said doctors told the family the law requires keeping her alive to preserve the pregnancy.
“We didn’t have a choice or a say about it,” Newkirk said. “We want the baby. That’s a part of my daughter. But the decision should have been left to us – not the state.”
Smith is currently about 22 weeks into her pregnancy. The hospital plans to keep Smith on life support until early August, when doctors will deliver the baby through a caesarean section, 11Alive reported.
“The chances of there being a healthy newborn at the end of this is very, very small,” Steven Ralston, the director of the maternal fetal medicine division at George Washington University, told the Washington Post. Newkirk said last week that the baby has fluid in the brain. “He may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born,” she said.
The family has named the baby Chance, Newkirk said.
“Right now, the journey is for baby Chance to survive,” Newkirk said on Monday. “Whatever condition God allows him to come here in, we’re going to love him just the same.”
. . .
“He has his toes, arms, limbs – everything is forming,” the woman’s mother, April Newkirk, told the local news station 11Alive. “We’re just hoping he makes it.”
The Georgia woman, Adriana Smith, went to a hospital in February with what she thought was an intense headache, Newkirk, told 11 Alive, which first reported the story. At the time, Smith was about eight weeks into her pregnancy.
The hospital released Smith after providing her with medication, Newkirk said. The next day, Smith was rushed back to the hospital after she woke up gasping for air. The hospital diagnosed her with blood clots in her brain. Within hours of her first visit, she was declared brain dead.
Under Georgia law, abortion is banned after about six weeks of pregnancy. That ban also contains provisions that strengthen the concept of “fetal personhood”, a doctrine that holds that embryos and fetuses should be considered people – and, as such, are entitled to full legal rights and protections. Newkirk said doctors told the family the law requires keeping her alive to preserve the pregnancy.
“We didn’t have a choice or a say about it,” Newkirk said. “We want the baby. That’s a part of my daughter. But the decision should have been left to us – not the state.”
Smith is currently about 22 weeks into her pregnancy. The hospital plans to keep Smith on life support until early August, when doctors will deliver the baby through a caesarean section, 11Alive reported.
“The chances of there being a healthy newborn at the end of this is very, very small,” Steven Ralston, the director of the maternal fetal medicine division at George Washington University, told the Washington Post. Newkirk said last week that the baby has fluid in the brain. “He may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born,” she said.
The family has named the baby Chance, Newkirk said.
“Right now, the journey is for baby Chance to survive,” Newkirk said on Monday. “Whatever condition God allows him to come here in, we’re going to love him just the same.”
. . .
Of course, once the baby is delivered, dead or alive, the state will wash its hands of its responsibility. "Gods will was done."
13 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
