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Buzz Feed
4 days ago
- Health
- Buzz Feed
Dead Pregnant Woman, Adriana Smith, Forced To Carry
Adriana Smith is a 30-year-old Black nurse and mother in Georgia. She was about nine weeks pregnant with a boy in February when her boyfriend woke up to her gasping for air in her sleep and gurgling. Smith was taken to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta "with severe head pains," according to MSNBC. "A CT scan showed blood clots in her brain, and soon physicians declared Smith to be brain-dead." She has now been on life support for over 90 days. The murky legality around this centers on Georgia's LIFE Act, a law banning most abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy once "fetal cardiac activity can be detected" — aka Georgia's heartbeat law. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law in 2019, but it was only invoked once Roe v. Wade was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2022. Medical staff at Emory, where Adriana Smith worked, have been ignoring the wishes of her family in favor of the law, which leaves a glaring gray area in the case of a legally dead mother. Brain death is "the legal and medical standard for death in the United States." Smith's mother and family have expressed that they've had virtually no say in her medical care or that of her fetus. "She's been breathing through machines for more than 90 days," her mother said. "It's torture for me. I see my daughter breathing, but she's not there. And her son — I bring him to see her." According to Atlanta television station WXIA-TV, "The plan now is to keep Smith alive until doctors believe the baby can survive outside the womb — likely at 32 weeks gestation." That would mean 10 more weeks on life support; Smith's family said doctors have told them there are no other legal ways to proceed. "This decision should've been left to us. Now we're left wondering what kind of life he'll have — and we're going to be the ones raising him," Smith's mother said. She told WXIA-TV that the family is concerned about the health of Smith's baby, as doctors have told them he has fluid on the brain. "[Adriana] is pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he's born," Smith's mother said. Many people have taken to social media to express their outrage over the anti-abortion legal and medical system that has allowed Adriana Smith to be kept alive by machines for the sake of preserving her pregnancy. "I'm the mother of a brain-dead son whose organs were donated," said TikTok user Jennifer Comstock (@positivejen) in a video earlier this week. "People need to understand what it's like to keep a brain-dead body alive." She goes on to explain that it took time for the hospital to stabilize and prepare his organs for donation and to find suitable recipients because of his blood type. "So I sat in that hospital bed with him for two days, because despite the fact that he was legally dead, that was my baby, and I wasn't leaving him in that hospital alone," she says. "During that two days, the amount of interventions they had to do to keep my son's body was unbelievable," Comstock says. "Obviously, he was on a ventilator, but you also can't regulate your own heartbeat. You can't maintain your own blood pressure. They're giving you all kinds of medications [...] His kidneys were failing. They had to give him medication to fix that." She goes on: "They would fix one thing, and another thing would go wrong. And sitting there watching it felt wrong. It was horrible watching what they were doing to him." But, as Comstock says, there's one major difference between the case of her 30-year-old son and that of Adriana Smith: "My son wanted to be an organ donor, and that is why we continued to do it. And my son saved lives," she said. "But I don't think you guys understand. This woman is not in a vegetative state; she's not in a coma. She's dead." "Her body is not functioning. Her brain is not producing the hormones required to sustain a pregnancy." "This family is being put to torture. I did this of my own free will, and I am still traumatized," she concludes. People replied to the video in droves. This person wrote about how having a body that is technically "alive" is only one part of the equation in a healthy pregnancy. Someone else echoed what Jennifer said in the video about the crucial difference in having the choice to be kept on life support; she replied, "Pregnant Georgia women seem to belong to the state not to them selves." A lot of other folks just said that what's happening to Adriana Smith is wrong: Another creator, Grace Wells (@0fficial.c0wgirl on TikTok), made a video with the heading, "What does it mean to be born of a corpse?" "You think that a brain-dead person just isn't conscious anymore and their body's all working and so their body's just gonna grow the baby either way?" she says. "That's not what's happening." "It is not pro-life to force a child to be born of a corpse," Grace repeats twice. "And what are the medical implications of a fetus gestating in the chemical environment of a corpse, of a brain-dead person who has to be on medication to regulate every single bodily function because their brain cannot do it because they are dead?" "If that's something that you can justify, we have very different interpretations of what is sacred," Wells says. "What does it mean for us as a society that we are attempting to do this as a political stunt? Force a child to be born of a corpse." The comments resoundingly agreed. Some pointed out how Adriana Smith's case joins the long history of medical abuse and racism toward Black women. "It's so sick. I also think about trauma and medical debt they are laying on her poor family," this person wrote. One user pointed out the hypocrisy of this case within the "pro-life" movement. And finally, someone shared the haunting reality that may await Adriana Smith's unborn child: What are your thoughts? We want to hear in the comments.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Marjorie Taylor Greene: Teen Detained By ICE After Mistaken Arrest Would Be 'Thriving In Mexico'
A Georgia teen who was arrested earlier this month after being mistakenly pulled over at a traffic stop was released from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement custody on Thursday. In an interview the same day, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested that the young woman, who is undocumented, should be deported. 'My life won't be the same,' Ximena Arias-Cristobal, 19, told NBC affiliate WXIA-TV, reflecting on her time at Stewart Detention Center. 'I think it's changed me as a person, like I said, I guess be more humble, understand people more and just be able to see the people around you.' She was arrested earlier this month on charges of driving without a valid driver's license and for making a right turn on red, but those charges were dropped after the Dalton Police said dash cam footage showed they pulled her over by mistake. However, the police's mistake landed her in ICE custody. Arias-Cristobal came to the United States from Mexico when she was 4 and was a student at Dalton State College at the time of her arrest. Her mother told WXIA that her daughter was not eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that provides certain undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children with work authorizations and temporary protection from deportation. Being detained at Stewart is 'something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy,' the 19-year-old told the news outlet. 'It's the conditions and the unknown, it's not knowing what's going to happen to me, knowing that I could be sent back to a country that I don't know, having to be torn apart from my family,' she told the outlet. 'It's also the conditions — you don't get much privacy, you get screamed at for every little thing, the food is horrible, they don't pay attention to you, you get sick and they don't care.' Dustin Baxter, Arias-Cristobal's attorney, told the outlet it's possible that if they could show his client's arrest was the result of profiling, she could qualify for a 'U Visa,' meant for victims of certain crimes. Meanwhile, Rep. Greene suggested in an interview with Tennessee-based news outlet WCRB that Arias-Cristobal should be deported. 'The law is the law, and we don't get to pick and choose who gets to break the law and who gets to follow the law,' the MAGA Republican said. 'It's important for us to uphold the law, and that's the most important thing that we can do and our government can do.' Greene said Arias-Cristobal grew up in a 'great area' and received a 'great education' in the U.S. and would be 'thriving in Mexico' if sent back. 'In Mexico today, there's over 1.6 million United States of America (sic) citizens living and thriving in Mexico, and I'm sure she and her family will be able to do the same,' she stated. The lawmaker blamed Arias-Cristobal's parents for her situation, claiming they never pursued 'a path to citizenship when they illegally brought her into the country when she was a young child.' Stewart's father, who was also detained at Stewart after being arrested for a traffic violation, is in the process of applying for a 'cancellation of removal,' Baxter told WXIA. Because her father is a 'person of good moral character,' has been in the U.S. for more than 10 years, and has children who are citizens, he would be 'granted permanent resident status' if he wins his case, the attorney said. If her father becomes a permanent resident, Arias-Cristobal would then have a 'qualifying relative' that could allow her to become a permanent resident as well, he added. Teen Remains In ICE Detention Despite Police Admitting To Pulling Her Over By Mistake Marjorie Taylor Greene Declines To Challenge Jon Ossoff In Georgia Senate Race Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Won't Run For Senate In Blow To GOP
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Marjorie Taylor Greene: Teen Detained By ICE After Mistaken Arrest Would Be 'Thriving In Mexico'
The Georgia teen arrested earlier this month after being mistakenly pulled over at a traffic stop was released from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement custody on Thursday. In an interview the same day, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested that the young woman, who is undocumented, should be deported. 'My life won't be the same,' Ximena Arias-Cristobal, 19, told NBC affiliate WXIA-TV, reflecting on her time at Stewart Detention Center. 'I think it's changed me as a person, like I said, I guess be more humble, understand people more and just be able to see the people around you.' She was arrested earlier this month on charges of driving without a valid driver's license and for making a right turn on red, but those charges were dropped after the Dalton Police said dash cam footage showed they pulled her over by mistake. However, the police's mistake landed her in ICE custody. Arias-Cristobal came to the United States from Mexico when she was 4 and was a student at Dalton State College at the time of her arrest. Her mother told WXIA that her daughter was not eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that provides certain undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children with work authorizations and temporary protection from deportation. Being detained at Stewart is 'something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy,' the 19-year-old told the news outlet. 'It's the conditions and the unknown, it's not knowing what's going to happen to me, knowing that I could be sent back to a country that I don't know, having to be torn apart from my family,' she told the outlet. 'It's also the conditions — you don't get much privacy, you get screamed at for every little thing, the food is horrible, they don't pay attention to you, you get sick and they don't care.' Dustin Baxter, Arias-Cristobal's attorney, told the outlet it's possible that if they could show his client's arrest was the result of profiling, she could qualify for a 'U Visa,' meant for victims of certain crimes. Meanwhile, Rep. Greene suggested in an interview with Tennessee-based news outlet WCRB that Arias-Cristobal should be deported. 'The law is the law, and we don't get to pick and choose who gets to break the law and who gets to follow the law,' the MAGA Republican said. 'It's important for us to uphold the law, and that's the most important thing that we can do and our government can do.' Greene said Arias-Cristobal grew up in a 'great area' and received a 'great education' in the U.S. and would be 'thriving in Mexico' if sent back. 'In Mexico today, there's over 1.6 million United States of America (sic) citizens living and thriving in Mexico, and I'm sure she and her family will be able to do the same,' she stated. The lawmaker blamed Arias-Cristobal's parents for her situation, claiming they never pursued 'a path to citizenship when they illegally brought her into the country when she was a young child.' Stewart's father, who was also detained at Stewart after being arrested for a traffic violation, is in the process of applying for a 'cancellation of removal,' Baxter told WXIA. Because her father is a 'person of good moral character,' has been in the U.S. for more than 10 years, and has children who are citizens, he would be 'granted permanent resident status' if he wins his case, the attorney said. If her father becomes a permanent resident, Arias-Cristobal would then have a 'qualifying relative' that could allow her to become a permanent resident as well, he added. Teen Remains In ICE Detention Despite Police Admitting To Pulling Her Over By Mistake Marjorie Taylor Greene Declines To Challenge Jon Ossoff In Georgia Senate Race Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Won't Run For Senate In Blow To GOP
7NEWS
22-05-2025
- Health
- 7NEWS
Georgia mother says she is being forced to keep brain-dead pregnant daughter alive under abortion ban law
A pregnant woman in Georgia who was declared brain-dead is being kept alive by ventilators because of the state's law banning abortions, the woman's mother says, telling local news that the family has no say in the matter. April Newkirk said her 30-year-old daughter, Adriana Smith, began experiencing intense headaches in early February. Smith was nine weeks pregnant at the time with her second child, NBC affiliate WXIA-TV of Atlanta reported. Smith sought treatment at Northside Hospital but was released and given medication, Newkirk said, claiming the hospital did not run any tests or scans. Northside did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A day after seeking treatment, Smith's boyfriend woke up to find her gasping for air and making gargling noises, Newkirk told WXIA. Smith was rushed to Emory Decatur and then transferred to Emory University Hospital, where a CT scan showed multiple blood clots in her brain, the news station reported. Newkirk said that her daughter was declared brain-dead and has 'been breathing through machines for more than 90 days'. 'It's torture for me,' she said. 'I see my daughter breathing, but she's not there.' Newkirk declined an interview when contacted by NBC News. According to WXIA, the plan is to keep Smith alive until the baby boy can safely survive on his own, most likely at 32 weeks. Republican governor Brian Kemp signed the state's near-total abortion ban, known as the LIFE Act, in 2019, but it didn't take effect until 2022, after it faced a legal challenge and the US Supreme Court reversed Roe v Wade. Under the law, abortions are illegal after six weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions include some situations to protect the woman's life and health, when foetal anomalies are detected, and in cases of rape and incest that have been documented with police. Newkirk told the station that her daughter is currently 21 weeks pregnant. 'It should have been left up to the family,' Newkirk said, telling the station that doctors informed the family they are legally not allowed to consider any other options. 'I'm not saying that we would have chose to terminate her pregnancy, but what I'm saying is, we should have had a choice,' she said. A spokesperson for Emory Healthcare said it 'uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance to support our providers as they make individualised treatment recommendations in compliance with Georgia's abortion laws and all other applicable laws'. 'Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve,' the spokesperson said. Monica Simpson, executive director of the organisation SisterSong, said the first issue with Smith's case is that she did not receive proper care when she sought help for her headaches. The situation the family is in now raises another issue, the grey area with the state's abortion ban, Simpson said in a phone call Thursday. The ban creates 'this type of uncertainty for medical care providers, it creates this type of uncertainty for folks who are coming up against it,' Simpson said. 'It's not black and white,' she added. 'There's, unfortunately, these grey areas that our elected officials, our state, our governor did not take into consideration when moving this ban into play. What we've seen … is that there are grey areas and that's where the danger comes in.' Newkirk said the family is also having to deal with the financial responsibility of keeping Smith on life support, with a GoFundMe set up to help cover costs.
NDTV
17-05-2025
- Health
- NDTV
Brain-Dead Pregnant Woman In US Kept Alive Due To Abortion Ban: Family
A 30-year-old pregnant woman in the southeastern US state of Georgia has been kept on life support for three months -- despite being declared brain-dead -- due to the state's abortion restrictions, the woman's mother says. April Newkirk said the decision to keep her daughter Adriana Smith alive was made without input from her family. "This decision should've been left to us," she told local NBC broadcaster WXIA-TV. Newkirk said Smith, a registered nurse, was suffering serious headaches in February when she was nine weeks pregnant. An initial hospital visit ended with only a prescription for medication. The next morning, when she was taken to the hospital where she worked, doctors found multiple blood clots in her brain, and she was declared brain dead. Georgia law bans all abortion treatments after six weeks of pregnancy -- one of the so-called 'heartbeat' laws, referring to the approximate first detection of a fetal heartbeat. As Smith was nine weeks along, doctors were hesitant to do anything that could contravene the law, according to Newkirk. Smith has been kept on life support ever since, and is now 21 weeks into her pregnancy. "I'm not saying that we would have chosen to terminate her pregnancy, what I'm saying is: we should have had a choice," Newkirk said. Smith, who has a son, has been kept on a ventilator to bring the fetus to term, though Newkirk said doctors are not sure the pregnancy will be viable or without health complications. - 'Chilling effect' - Katie Watson, a professor at Northwestern University specializing in medical ethics and reproductive rights, said the abortion law does not apply to a case like Smith's. The "Georgia abortion statute is completely unrelated to removing a ventilator from a brain-dead person. It has nothing to say about that, even if that person is pregnant at the time of their death," Watson told AFP on Friday. "If the family's report of what the hospital told them is accurate, the hospital has made a surprising misinterpretation of Georgia's abortion law," she added. Watson said it was possible the hospital's actions were out of fear of legal liability, "which is a chilling effect of these statutes" against abortion. Emory Healthcare, the hospital system where Smith is being treated, did not immediately respond to a request for comment by AFP. The saga provoked a strong reaction by Democrats and abortion rights organizations. "Everyone deserves the freedom to decide what's best for their families, futures and lives," Democratic congresswoman Nikema Williams of Georgia said in a statement. Williams accused US President Donald Trump and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, both Republicans, of "forcing people through unimaginable pain." "It is deadly to be Black and pregnant in a state where reproductive care is limited and criminalized," said Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, an advocacy group focusing on reproductive justice for women of color. Since the US Supreme Court's decision to end federal protection of abortion rights in 2022, states like Georgia have adopted tough anti-abortion laws. Trump, who in his first term appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, has frequently credited himself on contributing to the overturning of Roe v Wade, which had secured the right to terminate a pregnancy.
