Latest news with #HouseBill481
Time of India
18-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Adriana Smith, brain-dead Georgian mother who gave birth to a son, to be taken off life support
Adriana Smith, a brain dead woman who gave birth to her son, would be removed from life support soon. Adriana Smith was a nurse from metro Atlanta. She was declared brain dead on Feb 19, when she was 8 weeks pregnant, reports said. The cause of death was blood clots in her brain after she had a bad headache and went to the hospital. The hospital sent her home, and within hours, she became unresponsive. Her family says the doctors later told them she had suffered blood clots and was brain dead. Birth of baby Chance On June 13 at 4:41 AM, Adriana's baby boy was born via emergency C-section. The baby's name is Chance and he was born prematurely. He was born very small, just 1 pound 13 ounces, and is now in the NICU. The family says he's still fighting but should be okay, as per the report by 11Alive. Adriana has been on life support for almost 4 months. The hospital plans to remove life support on Tuesday, as confirmed by her mom. Her mom said it's really hard to accept and she wishes she had more time with her. The family celebrated Adriana's 31st birthday recently. People across the country noticed Adriana's case because of Georgia's abortion law (House Bill 481 / LIFE Act). The law stops most abortions after a heartbeat is found but doesn't say what to do if the mom is brain dead. Doctors told the family they had to keep Adriana on life support because of the law, as per the report by 11Alive. Live Events But in May, the Georgia Attorney General's Office clarified that nothing in the law forces hospitals to keep brain-dead pregnant women on machines. Emory Healthcare, where she was treated, hasn't explained its decision in detail, only that it considered Georgia's abortion law and other laws, as per the report by AP. State Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes called the legal confusion 'life and death contradictions.' Adriana's mom said the family should have had a choice about her daughter's treatment. She said they may not have ended the pregnancy, but they still wanted the right to decide. She added, 'All women should have a choice about their body.' Adriana as a person Adriana was a nurse who loved her job. Her mom said the medical system that she worked in also let her down. Adriana was a caring mom to her 7-year-old son. He thinks she's just been sleeping. The family hasn't told him yet that he has a baby brother, as per the reports. Adriana was kind, smart, caring, loved traveling, and wanted to study more. Some of her old patients even said she was a great nurse. The family is raising money online to support both children and cover hospital costs. Adriana's mom said, 'This hit us really, really hard' and asked for prayers and privacy, as per the report by 11Alive. FAQs Q1. Who was Adriana Smith? She was a pregnant nurse in Georgia who became brain dead and stayed on life support until her baby was born. Q2. Why didn't they turn off her life support? Doctors were confused by Georgia's abortion law and thought they had to keep her on it.
Black America Web
18-06-2025
- Health
- Black America Web
Adriana Smith, Brain-Dead Georgia Mom On Life Support, Gives Birth Via C-Section
Source: Courtesy of Family / Courtesy Photo After months of being on life support due to a medical emergency linked to blood clots in her brain, Adriana Smith's baby boy was delivered via C-section prematurely on Friday, June 13, according to local Atlanta affiliate 11Alive. But the miracle birth is a bittersweet one, as Smith's family also has to prepare her funeral. Speaking with the outlet following the birth of her grandson, Smith's mother, April Newkirk, provided an update on the baby's health after weighing in at 1 pound, 13 ounces and being placed in the NICU. 'He's expected to be OK,' Newkirk shared. 'He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He's here now.' Visibly emotional, Newkirk expressed her feelings about saying a final goodbye to her daughter after months on forced life support due to Georgia's abortion ban. 'It's kind of hard, you know,' she said of her daughter, who turned 31 years old on June 15. 'It's hard to process. I'm her mother. I shouldn't be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me.' 'If I could say one more thing to her, I guess I would tell her that I love her and that she was a great daughter,' Newkirk added. Per Georgia law, most abortions are banned after cardiac activity is detected, which is around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women even realize they are pregnant. On February 19, Smith, a nurse, was declared brain dead at eight weeks pregnant. Newkirk said doctors then informed her that due to Georgia's abortion law, House Bill 481 or the LIFE Act, they were required to keep Smith on life support until the baby could be delivered, according to 11Alive. However, the LIFE Act does not explicitly address situations involving brain death, which experts say has caused confusion. The Georgia Attorney General's Office issued a statement back in May addressing the controversial law. 'There is nothing in the LIFE Act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,' said office spokesperson Kara Murray. 'Removing life support is not an action with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy.' 'I'm not saying we would have chosen to terminate her pregnancy. But I'm saying we should have had a choice,' Newkirk previously told the outlet of her daughter's right to choose. 'I think all women should have a choice about their body. And I think I want people to know that.' 'The same field that she worked in is the same people that failed her,' Newkirk said. SEE ALSO Adriana Smith, Brain-Dead Georgia Mom On Life Support, Gives Birth Via C-Section was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Savannah mother fights for own life, daughter's life, amidst struggle to navigate Georgia's abortion laws
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – In 2023, a Georgia mother found herself pregnant, sitting in a hospital room, begging staff to help her, but for hours she received no relief. Almost two years later, Callie Beale Harper's daughter Kit is now a little over a year old. She loves to play with her stuffed animals, look at the chickens in her neighbor's yard and sing. Though, before she was born, her mom didn't know how many of those activities Kit would be able to do. 'She was born at 27 weeks,' Harper said. 'She had a grade two brain bleed. She had retinopathy of prematurity which could have affected her vision for life, and she had a lung disorder called bpd because of prematurity due to my lack of care due to laws in the state of Georgia.' Kit was originally a twin. In April of 2023, Harper found out she was pregnant with a girl and a little boy. 'A lot to think about, but super exciting…I immediately started to look at like the double carriers,' she said. However, her hopes were soon dashed. Doctors told her only one of her two babies would survive. 'At about 13 weeks of pregnancy, I discovered one of my twins had severe physical, structural anomalies,' Harper said. 'Structurally, he was incompatible with life. Me not knowing anything medically, I could see with my eye, my untrained eye, that so many parts of his body were broken beyond repair. It was incredibly swollen. I immediately just hoped and prayed that he wasn't in pain.' GA, SC, others, file to challenge 504 accommodations What came next was an impossible choice and a shocking revelation from one of her doctors. 'He said, 'What I recommend is a procedure called a selective reduction,'' Harper said. 'That is a form of abortion. It's painless before they have pain receptors…the risk is that if he continues to collect fluid, it's going to put your daughter's amniotic sac in a position that will take her life as well and trigger pre-term labor for you and it is a really real risk to your life.' Harper now lives in Savannah, but she was living and being treated at a hospital about 30 minutes outside of Atlanta at the time. Harper said because of the current abortion laws in Georgia, doctors told her she wouldn't be allowed to have the procedure she needed to lay her son to rest and protect her healthy daughter in her home state. She was given the same news by multiple specialists as well, with one telling her, '…that in her experience being a genetic counselor in the state of Georgia, you had to have very deep pockets to receive an exception,' Harper said. 'She said that if you were poor or middle class, you had no chance. She said that even if you had these deep pockets, it would take weeks to go before the board to receive an exception.' The current law in Georgia dictates that abortions can't be performed after six weeks of pregnancy unless the woman or the fetus qualify for one of the exceptions outlined in Georgia House Bill 481, otherwise known as the Heartbeat Bill. 'A few exceptions for the state of Georgia are the risk to the mother's life, check that box for me,' Harper said. 'Non-viable pregnancy…That also applied to my son. In addition, the risk to my daughter's life, which does not fit into the black and white nature of these exceptions. I didn't understand why I didn't qualify for the exceptions for non-viable pregnancy as well as risk to mother's life, but I knew that that door was closed. They couldn't even refer me to doctors.' To have the procedure she needed, one of Harper's doctors recommended she make at least three different appointments in three different states and not cancel any of them until the procedure was complete. So, she traveled from Georgia to one of the states that would perform the surgery, New York. However, it took several weeks to even get the out-of-state appointment, time that Harper didn't have. 'I experienced the complications that my doctor told me I would experience had I not received care at 13 weeks,' she said. Shortly after she returned to Georgia, the expecting mother ended up in the hospital again. 'Nineteen weeks, I found myself with a complete loss of fluid, contracting, bleeding,' Harper said. 'My husband took me to the hospital, emergency room, in the middle of the night. I went to triage and heard behind me as I'm having contractions, literally sitting in my own blood and amniotic fluid, them discussing that legally I'm not allowed up to labor and delivery for care and monitoring because I wasn't 20 weeks.' Hearing staff comments, fearing for her own life and the life of her babies, the frantic mother-to-be could only send updates to her husband via text. He was waiting outside the hospital with their older son. 'For hours I sat in the emergency room. They started to send me back to the waiting room and said that they were going to put me on a course that aligned with the outcome of my pregnancy, which was very disturbing.' Not knowing what that could mean, Harper said she had no choice but to take matters into her own hands. 'I screamed at the top of my lungs. I gripped the back of the wheelchair, and I said, 'My daughter is alive, and I need help,'' she said. Eventually, hospital staff relented, Harper said. 'Because I caused a scene, because I'm a mother who loves her children, I was moved to a back room,' Harper said. 'At that point I was let up to labor and delivery. I did have a very rare, delayed interval delivery in which my son was born, but my daughter stayed safely inside.' Though, the relief didn't last long. For the second time now, Harper was receiving earth-shattering news from her doctors. She said a specialist arrived the next morning and told her, 'Even though your daughter is perfectly healthy, we are now going to have to induce you. We are going to have to abort her life at 20 weeks because this pregnancy is going to kill you, and you are turning septic,' she said. 'I wish that I could say that I was furious and said you denied me healthcare in this form at 12, 13 weeks on my son with terminal problems. How are you going to take the life of my healthy daughter away?' However, Harper wasn't willing to give up on saving her daughter. 'I had my labs drawn twice a day, and every time I gave blood from my veins, I just sat and waited to hear if it would be life or death for my daughter,' she said. 'Thankfully, miraculously, after a few days, my levels started going down.' Still, she and her family had a long few months ahead of them. 'I was hospitalized ten times in ten weeks due to complications,' Harper said. At the end of those ten weeks, though, and the end of her nine-month long struggle, Kit was finally born. 'She is now 16 months,' Harper said. 'She just had her 12-month developmental clinic appointment, and she is testing at 15, 18 months. She is ridiculously strong and smart, but it is a miracle she didn't also have severe delays and problems affecting her for the rest of her life.' After her ordeal, on behalf of her daughter, Harper said she wasn't willing to remain quiet. Now, she advocates for other women, using social media to share her experience. 'In an ideal world, I would be holding both of my children right now and planning for their futures and how to care for them. But, instead, it's really my job to share what this really looks like and how it's affecting care providers and the mother's life,' she said. Harper also uses her social media pages to educate people about abortion laws around the country, including in Georgia, where the Living Infants Fairness Equality Act (LIFE), is the legislation that dictates abortion law. 'With the LIFE Act, we recognized that not only did we need to take a look at the circumstances in which women find themselves…We balance that with the basic life to right of a child…Children that have a heartbeat. Many Georgians believe they're worthy of full, legal protections,' State Sen. Ed Setzler, (GA- 37), who was one of the sponsors of the bill, said. Under the LIFE Act, elective abortions after six weeks of pregnancy are illegal, unless the woman or fetus qualifies for one of the exceptions outlined in the bill, including a medically non-viable pregnancy, rape/incest or risk to the life of the mother. The law is also commonly known as the Heartbeat Bill because six weeks is the widely accepted timeframe for fetuses to develop a heartbeat. It was passed in 2019, but it didn't go into effect until 2022 when landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade was struck down and Governor Brian Kemp signed it into law. 'We're trying to weigh again these very difficult decisions and give people options where options were fair and just but not let folks be callous and use abortion as an elective means of birth control,' Setzler said. Harper told WSAV that 'callous' isn't the correct word to describe people most affected by the legislation. 'A lot of times when late-term abortion is discussed, it's omitting the fact that less than 1% of abortions happen after 21 weeks,' she said. 'Almost always in these circumstances, the babies have a name. The mom has very lovingly and thoughtfully picked out paint color for their nursery. They have clothes that they've imagined slipping their sweet little babies' bodies into.' Bill to add Ten Commandments to schools in GA proposed in state house In 2022, The Center for Reproductive Rights filed a legal challenge to Georgia's six-week abortion ban, SisterSong v. State of Georgia, that's currently pending before the Georgia Supreme Court. In January, they also filed an amicus brief lifting up stories like Harper's. 'This brief highlights the stories of several people who were directly impacted by the ban when they experienced medical emergencies and were unable to get prompt, urgently needed care because doctors are terrified under the ban,' Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Reproductive Right Alice Wang said. 'The women who told their stories in the amicus brief, they make it crystal clear that none of them blame their doctors. Their doctors were doing the best that they could under impossible circumstances where they are facing potential criminal liability if a jury or a prosecutor later second guesses whether the care that they provided actually fits under the ban's narrow and inscrutable exceptions.' However, Setzler does not believe HB 481 puts healthcare providers at risk. He directly refuted one claim from Harper's doctor that she would have to wait to be granted one of the exceptions under the law. 'I know there's sometimes physicians who are politically active and politically very pro-abortion on demand,' he said. 'So, they hear the political critiques and that clouds their vision, perhaps even their medical practice. Physicians, physicians' groups, and hospitals may put their own internal processes in place to make these kinds of decisions, but to be clear, the life act puts no restrictions on a physician. If it's the physician's professional opinion that this child's natural condition is inconsistent with life, they unfortunately have the ability to perform an abortion for that purpose.' However, Harper said she believed her doctors' hands were tied, and she said many of the women she's met through her advocacy have also felt pressured into silence. 'Everyone thinks, well, it's never going to affect me because my daughter would never have an abortion. She leads a small group at her church. This issue doesn't affect me. Well, it's only a matter of time before someone you know, and love, is faced with this reality.' She shared a final appeal with WSAV: 'One ask that I have, and I say this coming from a Southern Baptist background, understanding that people's values, and the way we think about abortion is very complex, it comes from love, and care, and deeply held values, but it is not black and white what happens to mothers, or their babies in the womb, and laws are never going to be able to account for these complexities.' Oral arguments in SisterSong v. State of Georgia will be heard before the Georgia Supreme Court on March 18. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
