Case of brain dead pregnant woman who is being kept alive ‘against family’s will’ raises major questions over strict law

The family of Atlanta mum Adriana Smith have slammed the strict 'heartbeat law' which is keeping their brain dead daughter alive because she is pregnant.

The young mum was nine weeks pregnant when she began to suffer from headaches and later fell ill.

She tried to seek medical help for the pain and was sent away with medication, but it was later found after a CT scan she had multiple blood clots on her brain.

It was sadly too late to save Adriana, and doctors declared her brain dead, however she has been kept alive on a ventilator because she is pregnant.

As she is based in Georgia, Adriana falls under the 'heartbeat law'.

This law prohibits the termination of any pregnancy after six weeks gestation.

The decision was put in place after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, and it says that an abortion cannot be carried out if there is a 'detectable human heartbeat' unless there is a 'medical emergency or medically futile pregnancy'.

An abortion can also be carried out to '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'.

Adriana was nine weeks pregnant when she fell ill (facebook/Adriana Smith)

Unfortunately, Adriana's case falls into a grey area, so she is being kept alive.

The family says medical experts are planning to keep Adriana, who is now 21 weeks pregnant, alive until she reaches 32 weeks when they will induce her pregnancy.

Her family has spoken to a local news outlet to speak of their grief, telling 11 Alive: "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," and she added that her grandson truly believes his mum is 'just sleeping'.

She says the law needs to be challenged, to try and avoid difficult scenarios such as this: "I think every woman should have the right to make their own decision, and if not, then their partner or their parents.

"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.

"It should have been left up to the family because, I'm in my fifties, her dad is in his fifties, so we're gonna have the responsibility with her partner to raise her sons. And I'm not saying that we would have chose to terminate her pregnancy, what I'm saying is we should have had a choice."

State Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes sent a formal letter asking for clarification on whether Georgia law mandates life support in these circumstances.

Adriana's mum April (WXIA)

One law maker, Kim Schofield, slammed the law: "This is not healthcare. This is sanctioned cruelty.

"Adriana’s family is being forced to endure months of emotional torture. Our state has turned a woman into an incubator against her will and stripped her family of the right to say goodbye.

"This is barbaric, and it must end. Smith’s case has gained national attention as a grim example of how Georgia’s abortion ban is weaponized to override medical judgment, silence families and disproportionately harm Black women.

"Healthcare providers have cited fear of criminal penalties as a reason for inaction, despite clear signs that humane, patient-centered care is being blocked."

State Sen. Ed Setzler responded, according to the Associated Press, saying: "There’s a valuable human life that we have an opportunity to save, and I think it’s the right thing to save it."