Family of brain dead woman who had baby delivered while she was forced to be kept alive speak out
The family of a woman who was declared brain dead and forcibly kept alive before doctors delivered her baby via C-section have now spoken out.
Last week (13 June), 31-year-old mum and nurse Adriana Smith, who hails from Atlanta, Georgia, had her son, named Chance, delivered by doctors prematurely, and he is now being kept in the neonatal intensive care unit after weighing just 1lb 13oz (0.8kg).
"He's expected to be OK. He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him," Smith's mother, April Newkirk, told local news station 11Alive, adding that her daughter would be taken off life support this week on Tuesday (17 June).
"It's hard to process," she said. "I'm her mother. I shouldn't be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me."
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Newkirk has previously opened up about the horrifying situation, telling 11Alive that her family have been forced to endure 90 days of 'torture' as her daughter's case met a legal grey area with doctors reportedly explaining to the family that since she was no longer considered at risk, they were legally bound to maintain her life until the foetus reaches viability.
She said: "She's been breathing through machines for more than 90 days. It's torture for me. I see my daughter breathing, on a ventilator but she's not there. And I'm touching her. And her son - I bring him to see her."
The grieving mother added that it's even more heartbreaking that her grandson believes that his mum, Adriana, was 'just sleeping'.
"I think every woman should have the right to make their own decision," she continued. "And if not, then their partner or their parents."
April continued: "She's pregnant with my grandson. But my grandson may be blind, may not be able to walk, wheelchair bound, we don't know if he'll live once she has him.
On Monday (16 June) - the day before Smith was taken off life support - Newkirk told 11Alive: "The same field that she worked in is the same people who failed her."
Then, in an interview done mere hours before she said her daughter would be removed from life support, the mother said she wished she could have had more time with her daughter, adding that she also wanted the same for Smith's two sons.
"Lay on her chest, you know, skin to skin," she said. "That's not possible."
Smith first started experiencing headaches earlier this year in February - a time at which she was already nine weeks pregnant.
She then sought medical advice due to her symptoms and was reportedly sent away with medication. However, just the following morning, Smith's boyfriend reported hearing her making gurgling noises and gasping for air, prompting him to rush her to hospital, where a CT scan revealed she had multiple blood clots in her brain.
In a tragic turn of events, it was unfortunately too late to save Adriana's life, and doctors at the hospital declared her brain dead.
She has since been kept alive on a ventilator for three whole months, meaning she has been unable to pass away peacefully.
And why?
Well, Georgia's extremely controversial law dubbed the 'heartbeat law' prohibits the termination of any pregnancy after six weeks gestation following the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade.
The legislation in question declares that no abortion can be carried out if there is a 'detectable human heartbeat' except in the event of a 'medical emergency or medically futile pregnancy'.
Termination of the pregnancy can only be performed 'to save the pregnant person's life', to 'preserve' the woman's 'physical health' and 'if the foetus is not expected to survive the pregnancy'.
Smith's case has also since revived interest in, and concern over, something known as the 'fetal personhood' laws - statutes or constitutional amendments that define a fetus, at times from the moment of conception, as a legal person with rights equal to or similar to those of a born human being.
For help, support and advice about abortion, contact the British Pregnancy Advisory Service on 03457 30 40 30, 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm on Saturdays, and 9.30am to 2.30pm on Sundays.
Topics: US News, Women's Health, Health, Real Life, True Life, Pregnancy
Rhiannon Ingle