Brain dead woman taken off life support after giving birth to tiny baby
A brain dead woman who was kept alive so her baby could be born has had her life support turned off.
The boy named Chance was born on Tuesday and is now "fighting for life" in neo-natal intensive care having been born weighing just one pound and 13 ounces. His mum Adriana Smith was just eight weeks pregnant when her harrowing medical ordeal began with severe headaches four months ago.
Ms Smith, who turned 31 while on life support and already had a seven-year-old son, was being kept alive because of her state's strict abortion laws. She had gone to Atlanta's Northside Hospital complaining of headaches but was sent away, without any scans or test being done. She collapsed the next day when her boyfriend discovered her struggling to breathe. According to both the Washington Post and Global News her family has confirmed that Ms Smith's life support has now been turned off.
She was then taken to Emory University Hospital, where she was found to have blood clots in her brain and was declared brain dead. According to the family, doctors at the hospital said they could not legally remove life-sustaining apparatus due to Georgia's laws that prohibit abortion once a foetal heartbeat is detected, typically at about six weeks of gestation.
Speaking to WXIA-TV after Ms Smith gave birth to Chace, her mother April Newkirk, said her daughter was barely six months pregnant when the Caesarean section was performed. She said that her new grandson was "expected to be okay."
She added: "He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him."
Georgia's Republican Attorney General Chris Carr clarified in a statement that the state's law doesn't compel medical professionals to maintain life support for a woman declared brain dead.
Last month, Dr Dale Gardiner, an Intensive Care Consultant and member of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said the situation Ms Smith found herself in was highly unusual because life-support is not designed to be long-term treatment for brain-dead patients.
He told the Mirror: "These patients are very physiologically unstable owing to the severity of their brain injury. They are all on intensive care.
"Normally mechanical ventilation and other intensive care interventions are only continued for a very short time to allow family to say goodbye or to enable organ donation (for example, up to a day). It is extremely unusual to continue beyond this point."
Her case has sparked anger around the world at the USA's anti-abortion laws, which were swept in at state level after the Supreme Court overturned 50 years of Roe vs Wade in 2022.
Yesterday in the UK, MPs voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in a landmark step. They voted by 379 to 137 in favour of the reform after an emotional debate in the House of Commons.
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi said her amendment would result in 'removing the threat of investigation, arrest, prosecution, or imprisonment' of any woman who ends their own pregnancy.
She said her amendment will not change time limits for abortion or the regulation of services, but will 'decriminalise women accused of ending their own pregnancies' and take them out of the criminal justice system, 'so they can get the help and support they need'.
In the past three years, six women have appeared in court in England charged with ending or attempting to end their pregnancy outside the rules of abortion law.
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NBC News
8 hours ago
- NBC News
Funeral for brain-dead woman kept alive due to abortion law held Saturday in Georgia
The funeral for the Georgia woman who was brain-dead but kept alive by ventilators because of the state's abortion law was held Saturday in an Atlanta suburb, NBC News affiliate WXIA of Atlanta reported. The funeral took place at Fairfield Baptist Church in Lithonia, WXIA reported, and drew a crowd that included a number of Smith's fellow nurses and other members of the public. Adriana Smith, who had just turned 31, was declared brain-dead in February after a CT scan found multiple blood clots in her brain, her mother, April Newkirk, told WXIA earlier this year. She was nine weeks pregnant when her boyfriend rushed her to the hospital after he woke up to find her gasping for air and making what he described as gargling noises, Newkirk told WXIA. Because of Georgia's strict abortion law — known as the LIFE Act — which makes abortion illegal after six weeks of pregnancy — Smith was kept alive until her child could be born and survive on his own, according to WXIA. The baby was born prematurely on June 13, weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces, Newkirk told WXIA at the time. WXIA reported Saturday that Smith was taken off life support days after her son, Chance, was born. The baby is still in the neonatal intensive care unit. "He's expected to be OK," Newkirk told the station earlier this month. "He's just fighting." Smith also has an older son, Chase. Smith's funeral Saturday drew family, friends, community members and peers who wanted to honor her life. The Atlanta Metropolitan Nursing Honor Guard performed a tribute to relieve Smith of her duties as a nurse, WXIA reported, and many who attended the funeral carried white roses. "I'm thankful for everything that she's taught me — her love, her kindness, her wisdom," Smith's younger sister, Naya, said, according to WXIA. "Family meant everything to her. So I hope that I can follow in her footsteps."
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Brain dead pregnant woman's family issue tragic update after baby cut out
The case of Adriana Smith sparked controversy around the world after the pregnant Black woman was kept on life support machines for months after her death, in order for her unborn baby to survive The family of a pregnant brain-dead woman who was kept on life support to incubate her premature foetus will live-stream her funeral to thank the people who donated to her medical funds. Adriana Smith was a 30-year-old nurse who died in February this year after suffering from severe headaches. She was around nine weeks' pregnant at the time, and had a seven-year-old existing son. The day after being sent home from hospital, her boyfriend woke to the sounds of her gasping for air - but when she was rushed back to hospital, the pregnant mum was found to have blood clots on her brain. After she was declared brain-dead - meaning there was zero chance of her ever recovering and regaining consciousness - Adriana was hooked up to life-support machines, which artificially kept blood pumping around her body. Thanks to Georgia's draconian pro-life laws, which ban abortion once a foetal heartbeat can be detected, doctors refused to take Adriana off the machines, instead planning to keep her body as an incubator until the foetus had reached viability in August. Despite Adriana's family's pleas to let their daughter rest in peace,Emory University Hospital in Atlanta said it uses "consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance to support our providers" as they make treatment recommendations "in compliance with Georgia's abortion laws and all other applicable laws". It added: "Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve." The foetus, which Adriana's family named 'Chance', was diagnosed in the womb with severe medical problems, and Adriana's mother April Newkirk said at the time they weren't even sure if he would survive the birth. He could, she said, be born with life-threatening disabilities which would affect his quality of life. After four months of being kept on life support, doctors finally delivered Chance via C-section in the early hours of June 13. He weighed just 538g, less than two pounds, but was born living at 27 weeks' gestation. Doctors now say he is in a critical but stable condition. Ms Newkirk wrote six days later, "Baby chance is doing good, keep praying it very early." She added: "I can't believe this I [can't] sleep but my God I serve I trust him I'm going to be strong but I'm hurting so bad inside." She later told press that her daughter was barely six months pregnant when Chance was cut out of Adriana's womb, but he was "expected to be okay". "He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him," she said, adding that Chance was "fighting for his life" in neo-natal intensive care. READ MORE: Legally dead pregnant mum being kept alive on life support as 'incubator' for foetus Shortly after the operation, doctors finally turned off the machines that had prolonged Adriana's bodily functions and returned her remains to her devastated family. The funeral will now be held on Saturday June 28, and Ms Newkirk has agreed to live-stream the ceremony so that the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who've been gripped by Adriana's ordeal can help say their goodbyes. "For everyone around the world. I am very grateful and thankful to you for your support," she wrote on the family's GoFundMe page, which has raised nearly $440,000 (£320,000) in donations for medical fees. "Adriana Smith's funeral will be livestream. And as soon as I get the link, I will share it for everyone to join me and my family. To say our final Farwell until we meet again my daughter," she added. "I want to thank everyone for the support that I received from each and every one of you. I am so grateful to have people from all over the world support. Please continue to pray for me and my family. I will update Monday about baby Chance." Adriana's case has sparked debate around the world about America's clampdown on abortion and women's reproductive rights. Republican lawmakers in Georgia brought in the LIFE bill shortly after the Supreme Court struck down Roe vs Wade, which had allowed women to access abortion for 50 years, which severely restricts women from seeking termination of their pregnancy after around six weeks.
The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
Republican who blamed the left for abortion access ‘scaremongering' says her office was evacuated over ‘death threats'
Florida Republican Rep. Kat Cammack has revealed that her offices had to be evacuated on Wednesday after she received 'imminent death threats' in response to comments she made last week about the treatment of her ectopic pregnancy in 2024. Cammack, 37, told The Wall Street Journal about her ordeal in a Florida emergency room after it was discovered that her baby's embryo was implanted where the fallopian tube meets the uterus, meaning it could not survive and that her own life was in danger without action. Writing on X on Wednesday evening, Cammack, who is pregnant again and due in August, recounted the disturbing backlash she had received in response to the article, posting screenshots of abusive messages she had been sent. 'Today, we had to evacuate our offices due to imminent death threats against me, my unborn child, my family, and my staff. These threats erupted after the Wall Street Journal reported on my life-threatening ectopic pregnancy – a nonviable pregnancy with no heartbeat,' she explained. 'Since then, we've received thousands of hate-filled messages and dozens of credible threats from pro-abortion activists, which law enforcement is actively investigating. In light of recent violence against elected officials, these threats are taken very seriously. 'To those spreading misinformation: I did not vote for Florida's heartbeat law; I serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, not the Florida Legislature. 'Let me be clear: I will not be intimidated. I won't back down in the fight for women and families. Ensuring women have the resources and care they deserve is critical. We need real conversations about maternal healthcare in America – conversations based on truth, not fear.' ABC News's Florida affiliate has reported that it was Cammack's Washington, D.C., offices that were evacuated in response to the threats, rather than her Sunshine State premises, and that the U.S. Capitol Police are investigating. A follow-up statement from her office declared: 'Congresswoman Cammack highlighted the critical women's health crisis in America, particularly the shortage of maternal health resources and the risks of politicizing healthcare. 'Her personal story illustrates how treating women's health as a political issue endangers lives. Misinformation campaigns, funded by pro-abortion groups, have intentionally confused healthcare providers despite the law being clear on exceptions; rape, incest, victims of trafficking and life of the mother. These dangerous pro-abortion ads contributed to delays that endangered her life. 'Since the Wall Street Journal article, she has received dozens of credible death threats against herself, her unborn child, and her family, which are being investigated by U.S. Capitol Police. 'Cammack's experience underscores the unacceptable reality that sharing a personal health story in an effort to improve women's healthcare can lead to violence and intimidation. Women deserve better, as does the national healthcare dialogue.' After deciding against surgery last year during her pregnancy, the hospital's doctors and nurses had to be persuaded to give her the shot of methotrexate she required to expel the pregnancy because, she said, they feared criminal prosecution under the state's six-week abortion ban, even though she was only five weeks pregnant at the time. The procedure in question was not an abortion. Surprisingly, the congresswoman did not take issue with the ban but instead blamed the medics' hesitance on scaremongering by Democrats.
