A pregnant woman who has been brain dead since February — and kept alive via life support in order to comply with Georgia’s abortion law — gave birth prematurely to a baby boy, ending the months-long medical and ethical ordeal at an Atlanta hospital.
Atlanta nurse Adriana Smith, 31, gave birth on June 13, three months premature via C-section, to a baby who weighs 1 pound 13 ounces and is currently in the neonatal intensive care unit at Emory University Hospital Midtown, according to local reports.
Smith’s family members named the baby Chance and hope he’ll get a fighting one himself.
“He’s expected to be OK,” Smith’s mother April Newkirk told local outlet 11 Alive.
“He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He’s here now.”
Newkirk previously told the press that the boy could be born with a variety of health problems and that the family is hoping his name brings him good fortune, according to reports.
As the grandmother prays for her grandbaby’s tenuous health, Newkirk’s daughter Adriana Smith, who turned 31 over the weekend, will finally be taken off of life support, the outlet reported.
“It’s kind of hard, you know. It’s hard to process,” she said tearfully.
Smith entered herself into Emory University Hospital, where she worked as a nurse, in February, with severe headaches. At the time, she was nine weeks pregnant.
She was discharged from the hospital with medication, but soon returned due to the intensity of the headaches.
A CT scan revealed multiple blood clots in her brain. Her health deteriorated while at the hospital, where, within hours, she was declared brain dead.
Smith was then moved to Emory Midtown, where doctors have utilized life-supporting technologies to keep her alive to be in compliance with the state of Georgia’s LIFE Act, commonly referred to as the “heartbeat bill.”
That law bans any abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and provides fetuses with full legal rights and protections.
Newkirk said that doctors had told the family that Smith was being kept alive to maintain compliance with the law, according to The Guardian.
“We didn’t have a choice or a say about it,” she said before Chance’s birth. “We want the baby. That’s a part of my daughter. But the decision should have been left to us – not the state.”
Many believed that Chance would not survive due to the circumstances of his gestation, which further impelled critics of the pro-life policy.
“The chances of there being a healthy newborn at the end of this is very, very small,” Steve Ralston, director of the maternal fetal medicine division at George Washington University, told The Washington Post.
The hospital’s decision to keep Smith alive drew heavy criticism from pro-choice advocates who claimed the dizzying ethical conundrum and extreme heartache are a result of bad legislation.
“Because of Georgia’s cruel abortion ban, Adriana Smith’s family is living through a nightmare,” Reproductive Freedom For All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju said in a statement in May.
“Families deserve the freedom to make their own decision about their loved ones, and prolonging their suffering isn’t just horrible policy; it’s inhumane. Anti-abortion politicians, including Donald Trump and Governor Kemp, need to be held accountable,” the statement concluded.
State representatives also weighed in as the controversy reached its peak.
“This is not healthcare. This is sanctioned cruelty,” State Democrat Rep. Kim Schofield said in a statement.
The hospital has not publicly commented on the case, citing patient privacy laws.
Smith, who also has a 7-year-old son, was due to be taken off life support on Tuesday, 11 Alive reported.
The post Brain dead, pregnant Atlanta nurse kept on life support to grow fetus gives birth to 1lb 13oz preemie named Chance: ‘He’s just fighting’ appeared first on New York Post.
