Georgia Woman Declared Brain Dead Over 90 Days Ago, Kept On Life Support To Continue Pregnancy Under State Abortion Law – Essence

It’s dangerous to become pregnant in Georgia. That’s not an opinion — it’s a fact. Georgia’s maternal mortality rate is among the worst in the nation — ranking 46th for maternal health outcomes, with many pregnancy-related deaths deemed preventable —for a number of reasons. Adriana Smith, a thirty-year-old mother and nurse, is the latest victim of Georgia’s dystopian reproductive landscape.

In February, Smith was declared brain-dead after suffering blood clots in her brain.  In any just system, her family would have had the choice to begin the grieving process and honor her life. But in Georgia, under one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, Smith’s story has not ended with her death. Her family says they were told by her doctors that “they are not allowed to stop or remove the devices that are keeping her breathing because state law bans abortion after cardiac activity can be detected.” The AP reported that Emory Healthcare said it could not comment, but released a statement saying it “uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature and legal guidance to support our providers as they make individualized treatment recommendations in compliance with Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.”

For more than 90 days, Adriana Smith’s body has been kept on life support. Not for her health or out of any hope of recovery, but to sustain her fetus — a fetus that was only nine weeks along when Smith was declared brain-dead. In a GoFundMe created by her mother, April Newkirk, to help with medical bills, Newkirk wrote that this has turned their family’s world upside down. “Her family deserved the right to have decision-making power about her medical decisions. Instead, they have endured over 90 days of retraumatization, expensive medical costs and the cruelty of being unable to resolve and move toward healing,” said Monica Simpson, Executive Director of Atlanta-based Reproductive Justice organization, SisterSong, in a statement shared with ESSENCE. 

Let that sink in: a Black woman, declared dead by medical professionals, is being used by the state as a vessel for forced birth. Her body, quite literally, is not free — not even in death. Now more than 21 weeks into her pregnancy, Smith’s case is on track to become one of the longest instances of life support being used solely to incubate a fetus in a legally deceased patient. All of this is taking place in a state that ranks 50th in access to healthcare, health insurance and affordability of care. Potential Medicaid cuts threaten to make things even worse. 

Instead of addressing the state’s public health emergency, Georgia’s leaders have doubled down on cruel, dehumanizing policies that criminalize pregnancy and control women’s bodies.

Georgia’s “heartbeat” law, passed in 2019 by Governor Brian Kemp but was only enforced after the fall of Roe v. Wade, bans most abortions after approximately six weeks — before many people even know they’re pregnant.

 But what makes Georgia’s law especially dangerous is that it goes a step further: it legally recognizes a fetus with a heartbeat as a person. This means a fertilized egg is granted the same legal rights as a fully developed human being. This has had and will continue to have terrifying consequences. Such as when earlier this year, a Georgia woman was arrested and charged with concealing the death of another person and abandoning a dead body. This was after she’d been found unconscious and bleeding, following a natural miscarriage. The personhood provision also limits medical decision-making, particularly in devastating cases involving severely ill or brain-dead pregnant women, like Smith. 

Republican Georgia state Senator Ed Setzler said, “I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child. I think this is an unusual circumstance, but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life. I think the hospital is acting appropriately.” Setzler, who sponsored the 2019 abortion law, said Smith’s relatives have “good choices.” That they can keep the child or put the child up for adoption.

These are not isolated cases. They’re part of a broader pattern of injustice. After ProPublica’s investigation exposed the devastating human toll of Georgia’s abortion ban, including the preventable deaths of women like Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, the state responded by firing every member of its maternal mortality review committee. Georgia didn’t reform. It retaliated.

This isn’t just in Georgia. Many women across the U.S. have already died because of these laws. They have bled outwaiting for care. They have been turned away from emergency rooms. They have been criminalized for losing pregnancies. This is not about life. It’s about power. These people, who know nothing of our experiences, are writing laws that disregard the humanity and pain of women. It’s killing us. For Black women, it’s killing us at a higher rate. 

According to research compiled by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), the Black maternal mortality rate is significantly higher in Republican-led states that have enacted restrictive abortion bans. Overall, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. These laws don’t just limit access to abortion. 

They also exacerbate deep racial disparities in maternal health outcomes. Black women, already at higher risk due to systemic racism in healthcare, are disproportionately harmed in states where lawmakers have stripped away reproductive rights and fail to invest in maternal care. The data makes it clear: when Republican leaders pass extreme abortion restrictions, Black women pay the highest price. Considering our country’s history, and its refusal to contend with it, none of this a surprise.

Throughout most of American history, Black women have been denied the right to control our own bodies. We are descendants of enslaved Black women who were physically, sexually and emotionally abused by slave owners and forced to give birth repeatedly under violent conditions to fuel an economic system that saw them as breeding stock. Adriana Smith’s story feels tragically familiar. Her body is being used as a vessel, not honored as a human being. This is the legacy of forced birth. 

“We’ve sounded the alarm for years. Yet, after the devastating and preventable deaths of multiple Black women, the message still rings clear: our lives are on the line, and our human right to bodily autonomy has been violated. Our bodies are not battlegrounds for political power plays,” said Simpson.

Adriana Smith deserved better. Her family deserves peace. And women deserve autonomy and dignity, regardless of their address.