Latest news with #abortionlaws
The Sun
26-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Brain-dead pregnant mum's ‘corpse' being kept alive as baby grows… but family say it's ‘torture' & want her to die
A BRAIN-DEAD pregnant mum is being kept alive for her foetus to grow - but her grieving family have said it's "torture" and want her to pass. Adriana Smith, 30, was nine weeks pregnant when she went to hospital in Georgia seeking treatment for agonising headaches three months ago. 5 5 5 The young nurse was sent home by doctors with medication who didn't conduct a CT scan. Adriana woke up the next day with a shortness of breath and making gargling sounds, with the hospital later discovering she had blood clots in her brain. After unsuccessful surgery to relieve the pressure they were causing, Adriana was tragically declared brain-dead. The nurse has a seven-year-old son who is now without his mum, leaving Adriana's already-grieving family devastated. But the already-harrowing circumstances turned into "an absolute horror show" after Emory University Hospital told Adriana's family that despite her being legally dead, she wasn't allowed to die. This is because the hospital - where Adriana previously worked - say it's acting "in compliance with Georgia's abortion laws". The hospital has demanded Adriana's body is kept alive on breathing and feeding tubes until medical staff determine the male foetus is sufficiently developed to be delivered by cesarean section in early August. Health officials in Georgia reportedly believe that removing her from life support would violate the state's strict anti-abortion laws. The laws prohibit termination once a foetal heartbeat is detected at roughly six weeks. Despite Georgia's contentious law dubbed the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act containing an exception to save the life of the mother, according to the hospital, this doesn't apply to Adriana. They say this is because her life is beyond saving. Adriana's heartbroken family hadn't made a decision on whether to switch off her life support, but have been left devastated that the choice is no longer theirs. Adriana's mum April Newkirk heartbreakingly told 11Alive: "This is torture for me. "I see my daughter breathing by the ventilator but she's not there." April also revealed how the foetus - named 'Chance' by the family - has hydrocephalus, otherwise known as fluid on the brain. This means that even if he survives the pregnancy, he could be born with severe disabilities. April added: "He may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he's born. "Right now, the journey is for baby Chance to survive. 5 5 "Whatever condition God allows him to come here in, we're going to love him just the same." Despite Georgia's LIFE Act just about getting passed in 2019, it didn't come into effect until 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. This is the 1973 case that determined a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. Doctors have anticipated that there will be even more problems for the growing foetus, with life-support systems not designed for long-term treatment of brain-dead patients. And with blood no longer running to Adriana's brain, the organ is beginning to decompose. Director of the maternal foetal medicine division at George Washington University said: "The chance of there being a healthy newborn at the end of this is very, very small." Legal experts have argued that the ways in which anti-abortion laws have been written have made doctors and hospitals fear potentially facing criminal charges. They also say lawmakers should have anticipated how the movement to establish what's been dubbed "foetal personhood" - where a foetus would have legal rights - would end up putting the rights of the mum below those of their unborn child. Some of Georgia's conservatives have even argued that the state's LIFE law has been misinterpreted. The state's Republican attorney general Chris Carr last week said in a statement that the law doesn't require doctors to keep brain-dead patients alive as turning off life support "is not an action with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy". But others like state Senator Ed Setzler has said that there's a "valuable human life" and that "it's the right thing to save it". It is not the first time an American woman has been kept on life support due to a pregnancy. In 2014, Marlise Munoz became brain-dead due to a pulmonary embolism at 14 weeks pregnant. Hospital workers had refused to honour Marlise's previously stated wish to not be kept alive on machines. The medical staff cited a state law that stopped hospitals from withdrawing or witholding "life-sustaining treatment from a pregnant patient". But Marlise's husband began a legal battle to get her taken off life support, with a judge ruling in his favour. Marlise was removed from life support before the foetus was born. What are the abortion laws in Georgia? By Annabel Bate, Foreign News Reporter ABORTIONS in Georgia are banned after around six weeks of pregnancy. They are not allowed after fetal cardiac activity, otherwise known as a heartbeat, is detected. The Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act prohibits abortions after this point, apart from if there are very limited circumstances like medical emergencies of if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. Doctors can face 10 years in prison for performing abortions illegally. When in Georgia who receive an abortion after six weeks won't face criminal charges or punishments.
The Independent
17-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Case of brain-dead pregnant woman kept on life support raises tricky questions
The case of a pregnant woman who has been on life support in Georgia since she was declared brain dead three months ago has given rise to questions about fetal personhood and abortion laws. Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old nurse, was about two months pregnant on February 19 when she was declared brain dead, according to an online fundraising page started by her mother. Her mother wrote that doctors said Georgia 's strict anti- abortion law requires that she remain on life support until the fetus has developed enough to be delivered. The law was one of a wave of measures enacted in conservative states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. It restricts abortion once cardiac activity is detected, and gives personhood rights to a fetus. Smith's mother wrote it has left her family without a say in a difficult situation. Smith's due date is still months away, and the family is wondering whether the baby will be born with disabilities or can even survive. Some activists, many of them Black women like Smith, say the case raises issues of racial equity. What does the law say? Emory Healthcare, which runs the hospital, has not explained how doctors decided to keep Smith on life support except to say in a statement they considered 'Georgia's abortion laws and all other applicable laws.' The state adopted a law in 2019 to ban abortion after cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy, that came into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned. That law does not explicitly address Smith's situation, but allows abortion to preserve the life or physical health of the pregnant woman. Three other states have similar bans that kick in around the six-week mark and 12 bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy. David S. Cohen, a professor at Drexel University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law in Philadelphia, said the hospital might be most concerned about part of the law that gives fetuses legal rights as 'members of the species Homo sapiens.' Cohen said Emory may therefore consider Smith and the fetus as two patients and that once Smith was on life support, they had a legal obligation to keep the fetus alive, even after she died. 'These are the kind of cases that law professors have been talking about for a long time when they talk about fetal personhood,' he said. Personhood divide within anti-abortion movement Anti-abortion groups are divided over whether they should support personhood provisions, which are on the books in at least 17 states, according to the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice. Some argue that fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born. This personhood concept seeks to give them rights under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says a state can't 'deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process or law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' Some saw personhood as politically impractical, especially after personhood amendments to state constitutions were rejected by voters in Colorado, Mississippi and North Dakota between 2008 and 2014. Those who steered away sought laws and restrictions on abortion that stopped short of personhood, although they were often informed by the concept. Personhood proponents argue this lacks moral clarity. Some personhood proponents have been sidelined in national anti-abortion groups; the National Right to Life Committee cut ties with its Georgia Right to Life affiliate in 2014 after the state wing opposed bills that restricted abortion but allowed exceptions for rape and incest. Unequal access to care for Black women The Associated Press has not been able to reach Smith's mother, April Newkirk. But Newkirk told Atlanta TV station WXIA that her daughter went to a hospital complaining of headaches and was given medication and released. Then, her boyfriend awoke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was declared brain dead. It's not clear what Smith said when she went to the hospital or whether the care she was given was standard for her symptoms. But Black women often complain their pain isn't taken seriously, and an Associated Press investigation found that health outcomes for Black women are worse because of circumstances linked to racism and unequal access to care. Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia's abortion law, said: 'Black women must be trusted when it comes to our health care decisions.' 'Like so many Black women, Adriana spoke up for herself. She expressed what she felt in her body, and as a health care provider, she knew how to navigate the medical system,' Simpson said, noting that by the time Smith was diagnosed 'it was already too late.' It's unclear whether the clots in Smith's brain were related to her pregnancy. But her situation is undoubtedly alarming for those seeking solutions to disparities in the maternal mortality rate among Black women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women had a mortality rate of 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023. That's more than three times the rate for white women, and it is higher than the rates for Hispanic and Asian women. What is Smith's current situation? While Smith is on a ventilator and likely other life-support devices, being declared brain dead means she is dead. Some experts refer to 'life support' as 'maintenance measures,' 'organ support' or 'somatic support,' which relates to the body as distinct from the mind. Emory has not made public what is being done to allow Smith's fetus to continue to develop. In another case in Florida, doctors successfully delivered the baby of a 31-year-old woman who was declared brain-dead while 22 weeks pregnant, but not without weeks of sustained monitoring, testing and medical care. The woman's family wanted to keep the fetus, physicians with the University of Florida College of Medicine said in a 2023 paper. On her first day of admission, doctors administered hormones to raise her blood pressure and placed a feeding tube. After she was transferred to an intensive care unit, an obstetric nurse stayed by her bedside continuously to monitor the fetus' heart rate and movements. She was on a ventilator, regularly received steroids and hormones, and needed multiple antibiotics to treat pneumonia. Her medical team encompassed multiple specialties: obstetrics, neonatology, radiology and endocrinology. Doctors performed surgery to remove the fetus at 33 weeks when its heart rate fell, and the baby appeared to be in good health at birth. 'We don't have great science to guide clinical decision making in these cases,' said Dr. Kavita Arora, an obstetrician and gynecologist in North Carolina who raised concerns about the effect of prolonged ventilator use on a fetus. 'There simply aren't a lot of cases like this.' The 2023 paper warned that 'costs should not be underestimated.' While it is unclear how much it will cost to keep Smith on life support until the fetus can be delivered, or who will be responsible for that cost, her mother's GoFundMe page mentions Smith's 7-year-old son and notes that the baby could have significant disabilities as it aims to raise $275,000.
The Independent
16-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Case of brain-dead pregnant woman kept on life support in Georgia raises tricky questions
The case of a pregnant woman in Georgia who has been on life support since she was declared brain dead three months ago has given rise to complicated questions about fetal personhood and abortion laws. Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old nurse and mother, was about two months pregnant on Feb. 19 when she was declared brain dead, according to an online fundraising page started by her mother. Doctors said Georgia's strict anti-abortion law requires that she remain on life support until the fetus has developed enough to be delivered, her mother wrote. The law, one of a wave of measures enacted in conservative states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, restricts abortion once cardiac activity is detected and gives personhood rights to a fetus. Smith's mother says it has left her family without a say in a difficult situation, and with her due date still months away, the family is left wondering whether the baby will be born with disabilities or can even survive. Some activists, many of them Black women like Smith, say it raises issues of racial equity. What does the law say? Emory Healthcare, which runs the hospital, has not explained how doctors decided to keep Smith on life support except to say in a statement they considered 'Georgia's abortion laws and all other applicable laws.' The state adopted a law in 2019 to ban abortion after cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy, that came into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned. That law does not explicitly address Smith's situation, but allows abortion to preserve the life or physical health of the pregnant woman. Three other states have similar bans that kick in around the six-week mark and 12 bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy. David S. Cohen, a professor at Drexel University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law in Philadelphia, said the hospital might be most concerned about part of the law that gives fetuses legal rights as 'members of the species Homo sapiens.' Cohen said Emory may therefore consider Smith and the fetus as two patients and that once Smith was on life support, they had a legal obligation to keep the fetus alive, even after she died. 'These are the kind of cases that law professors have been talking about for a long time when they talk about fetal personhood,' he said. Personhood divide within anti-abortion movement Anti-abortion groups are divided over whether they should support personhood provisions, which are on the books in at least 17 states, according to the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice. Some argue that fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born. This personhood concept seeks to give them rights under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says a state can't 'deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process or law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' Some saw personhood as politically impractical, especially after personhood amendments to state constitutions were rejected by voters in Colorado, Mississippi and North Dakota between 2008 and 2014. Those who steered away sought laws and restrictions on abortion that stopped short of personhood, although they were often informed by the concept. Personhood proponents argue this lacks moral clarity. Some personhood proponents have been sidelined in national anti-abortion groups; the National Right to Life Committee cut ties with its Georgia Right to Life affiliate in 2014 after the state wing opposed bills that restricted abortion but allowed exceptions for rape and incest. Unequal access to care for Black women The Associated Press has not been able to reach Smith's mother, April Newkirk. But Newkirk told Atlanta TV station WXIA that her daughter went to a hospital complaining of headaches and was given medication and released. Then, her boyfriend awoke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was declared brain dead. It's not clear what Smith said when she went to the hospital or whether the care she was given was standard for her symptoms. But Black women often complain their pain isn't taken seriously, and an Associated Press investigation found that health outcomes for Black women are worse because of circumstances linked to racism and unequal access to care. Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia's abortion law, said: 'Black women must be trusted when it comes to our health care decisions.' 'Like so many Black women, Adriana spoke up for herself. She expressed what she felt in her body, and as a health care provider, she knew how to navigate the medical system,' Simpson said, noting that by the time Smith was diagnosed 'it was already too late.' It's unclear whether the clots in Smith's brain were related to her pregnancy. But her situation is undoubtedly alarming for those seeking solutions to disparities in the maternal mortality rate among Black women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women had a mortality rate of 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023. That's more than three times the rate for white women, and it is higher than the rates for Hispanic and Asian women. What is Smith's current situation? While Smith is on a ventilator and likely other life-support devices, being declared brain dead means she is dead. Some experts refer to 'life support' as 'maintenance measures,' 'organ support' or 'somatic support,' which relates to the body as distinct from the mind. Emory has not made public what is being done to allow Smith's fetus to continue to develop. In another case in Florida, doctors successfully delivered the baby of a 31-year-old woman who was declared brain-dead while 22 weeks pregnant, but not without weeks of sustained monitoring, testing and medical care. The woman's family wanted to keep the fetus, physicians with the University of Florida College of Medicine said in a 2023 paper. On her first day of admission, doctors administered hormones to raise her blood pressure and placed a feeding tube. After she was transferred to an intensive care unit, an obstetric nurse stayed by her bedside continuously to monitor the fetus' heart rate and movements. She was on a ventilator, regularly received steroids and hormones, and needed multiple antibiotics to treat pneumonia. Her medical team encompassed multiple specialties: obstetrics, neonatology, radiology and endocrinology. Doctors performed surgery to remove the fetus at 33 weeks when its heart rate fell, and the baby appeared to be in good health at birth. 'We don't have great science to guide clinical decision making in these cases,' said Dr. Kavita Arora, an obstetrician and gynecologist in North Carolina who raised concerns about the effect of prolonged ventilator use on a fetus. 'There simply aren't a lot of cases like this.' The 2023 paper warned that 'costs should not be underestimated.' While it is unclear how much it will cost to keep Smith on life support until the fetus can be delivered, or who will be responsible for that cost, her mother's GoFundMe page mentions Smith's 7-year-old son and notes that the baby could have significant disabilities as it aims to raise $275,000. ___ Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed reporting.
Associated Press
16-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Case of brain-dead pregnant woman kept on life support in Georgia raises tricky questions
ATLANTA (AP) — The case of a pregnant woman in Georgia who has been on life support since she was declared brain dead three months ago has given rise to complicated questions about fetal personhood and abortion laws. Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old nurse and mother, was about two months pregnant on Feb. 19 when she was declared brain dead, according to an online fundraising page started by her mother. Doctors said Georgia's strict anti-abortion law requires that she remain on life support until the fetus has developed enough to be delivered, her mother wrote. The law, one of a wave of measures enacted in conservative states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, restricts abortion once cardiac activity is detected and gives personhood rights to a fetus. Smith's mother says it has left her family without a say in a difficult situation, and with her due date still months away, the family is left wondering whether the baby will be born with disabilities or can even survive. Some activists, many of them Black women like Smith, say it raises issues of racial equity. What does the law say? Emory Healthcare, which runs the hospital, has not explained how doctors decided to keep Smith on life support except to say in a statement they considered 'Georgia's abortion laws and all other applicable laws.' The state adopted a law in 2019 to ban abortion after cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy, that came into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned. That law does not explicitly address Smith's situation, but allows abortion to preserve the life or physical health of the pregnant woman. Three other states have similar bans that kick in around the six-week mark and 12 bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy. David S. Cohen, a professor at Drexel University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law in Philadelphia, said the hospital might be most concerned about part of the law that gives fetuses legal rights as 'members of the species Homo sapiens.' Cohen said Emory may therefore consider Smith and the fetus as two patients and that once Smith was on life support, they had a legal obligation to keep the fetus alive, even after she died. 'These are the kind of cases that law professors have been talking about for a long time when they talk about fetal personhood,' he said. Personhood divide within anti-abortion movement Anti-abortion groups are divided over whether they should support personhood provisions, which are on the books in at least 17 states, according to the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice. Some argue that fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born. This personhood concept seeks to give them rights under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says a state can't 'deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process or law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' Some saw personhood as politically impractical, especially after personhood amendments to state constitutions were rejected by voters in Colorado, Mississippi and North Dakota between 2008 and 2014. Those who steered away sought laws and restrictions on abortion that stopped short of personhood, although they were often informed by the concept. Personhood proponents argue this lacks moral clarity. Some personhood proponents have been sidelined in national anti-abortion groups; the National Right to Life Committee cut ties with its Georgia Right to Life affiliate in 2014 after the state wing opposed bills that restricted abortion but allowed exceptions for rape and incest. Unequal access to care for Black women The Associated Press has not been able to reach Smith's mother, April Newkirk. But Newkirk told Atlanta TV station WXIA that her daughter went to a hospital complaining of headaches and was given medication and released. Then, her boyfriend awoke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was declared brain dead. It's not clear what Smith said when she went to the hospital or whether the care she was given was standard for her symptoms. But Black women often complain their pain isn't taken seriously, and an Associated Press investigation found that health outcomes for Black women are worse because of circumstances linked to racism and unequal access to care. Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia's abortion law, said: 'Black women must be trusted when it comes to our health care decisions.' 'Like so many Black women, Adriana spoke up for herself. She expressed what she felt in her body, and as a health care provider, she knew how to navigate the medical system,' Simpson said, noting that by the time Smith was diagnosed 'it was already too late.' It's unclear whether the clots in Smith's brain were related to her pregnancy. But her situation is undoubtedly alarming for those seeking solutions to disparities in the maternal mortality rate among Black women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women had a mortality rate of 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023. That's more than three times the rate for white women, and it is higher than the rates for Hispanic and Asian women. What is Smith's current situation? While Smith is on a ventilator and likely other life-support devices, being declared brain dead means she is dead. Some experts refer to 'life support' as 'maintenance measures,' 'organ support' or 'somatic support,' which relates to the body as distinct from the mind. Emory has not made public what is being done to allow Smith's fetus to continue to develop. In another case in Florida, doctors successfully delivered the baby of a 31-year-old woman who was declared brain-dead while 22 weeks pregnant, but not without weeks of sustained monitoring, testing and medical care. The woman's family wanted to keep the fetus, physicians with the University of Florida College of Medicine said in a 2023 paper. On her first day of admission, doctors administered hormones to raise her blood pressure and placed a feeding tube. After she was transferred to an intensive care unit, an obstetric nurse stayed by her bedside continuously to monitor the fetus' heart rate and movements. She was on a ventilator, regularly received steroids and hormones, and needed multiple antibiotics to treat pneumonia. Her medical team encompassed multiple specialties: obstetrics, neonatology, radiology and endocrinology. Doctors performed surgery to remove the fetus at 33 weeks when its heart rate fell, and the baby appeared to be in good health at birth. 'We don't have great science to guide clinical decision making in these cases,' said Dr. Kavita Arora, an obstetrician and gynecologist in North Carolina who raised concerns about the effect of prolonged ventilator use on a fetus. 'There simply aren't a lot of cases like this.' The 2023 paper warned that 'costs should not be underestimated.' While it is unclear how much it will cost to keep Smith on life support until the fetus can be delivered, or who will be responsible for that cost, her mother's GoFundMe page mentions Smith's 7-year-old son and notes that the baby could have significant disabilities as it aims to raise $275,000. ___ Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed reporting.
