It's been four months since a Georgia family was forced to keep a brain dead woman alive. Now, she has given birth in accordance to the state's law, but activism groups and Adriana Smith's own family are still speaking out on her behalf.
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April Newkirk, Smith's mother, shared the news of the newborn baby to Atlanta's 11 Alive. On Friday (June 13), the baby boy named Chance was delivered prematurely by an emergency cesarean section. He weighed only 1 pound and 13 ounces. Now, Chance remains in NICU clinging to his life, but his grandmother says he's expected to make it.
"He’s just fighting," Newkirk said in an interview with 11 Alive. "We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him." Smith was only six months into her pregnancy when the C-section was performed. After she gave birth, the 31-year-old mother was finally taken off life support.
Smith first made national news when her family was forced to keep her on life support until she gave birth. The woman, who was a registered nurse, was nine weeks pregnant when she began having severe headaches in February, The Root previously reported. She went to a hospital, where she received treatment and was sent home. The next day, her boyfriend woke up to Smith making gargling sounds and gasping for air in her sleep.
She was rushed to another hospital and declared brain dead. Her family was ready to let her go, but doctors said their hands were legally tied. Georgia House Bill 481-- dubbed the "heartbeat bill--" prevents an abortion after a fetus’ heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks, meaning Smith couldn't be taken off of life support until the birth.
The case sparked outrage from activist groups like UltraViolet, a leading national women-led gender-justice organization, who said this never should've happened. "Adriana Smith’s death and the blatant disregard for her body, her dignity, and her family come amid a climate in which the MAGA regime everywhere is increasing attacks on women’s bodily autonomy, ramping up surveillance and control, even as women are killed because of it," interim executive director of the organization, Arisha Hatch, said in a statement to The Root.
"At UltraViolet, we are sending all our love, prayers, and best wishes to Adriana’s mother, April Newkirk, and Adriana’s young son, who she left behind, as well as for her premature baby, who is fighting for his life in the newborn intensive care unit," Hatch added.
Smith's oldest son, Chase, 7, doesn't know he has a brother yet, Newkirk's mother revealed in the interview. "We try to make it as normal as we can for him, with camp, activities, you know, TV, family activities, and stuff like that. He’s OK. He’s going to need therapy." She added, "He’s definitely going to need therapy."
The grandmother continued saying Smith's story should serve as a cautionary tale. "I would like people to know is that all women should have a choice about their bodies. And I think I want people to know that [Smith] was a nurse, an RN. The same field that she worked in is the same people who failed her," she said.
"I’m her mother. I shouldn’t be burying my daughter… So I’m just trying to hold it together right now. For Chance and Chase," she added. "I wish he could smell his mother just one time. You know, lay on her chest, skin to skin. That’s not possible."
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