For months, Adriana Smith was kept alive while brain-dead and pregnant due to Georgia’s heartbeat law. Doctors kept her on life support until she ultimately delivered her son by an emergency Cesarean section on June 13.
She was then taken off life support on June 17. And though Smith’s baby, named Chance, is alive, the deceased woman’s mother, April Newkirk, told 11Alive that the minor is still fighting for his life.
“It’s not getting any better day by day,” Newkirk said. “It’s hard because something’s been taken away from us, it’s hard. You know, I think about her every day, all the time,” she also said about her deceased daughter.
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Smith’s story made national headlines after her family registered their displeasure over Georgia medical officials deciding to put her on life support for months – though she was brain-dead.
Smith was being kept alive under Georgia’s heartbeat law which bans abortion once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks into pregnancy. According to 11Alive, the law includes “limited exceptions for rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger. But in Adriana’s case, the law created a legal gray area.”
READ ALSO: Adriana Smith case: Baby of brain-dead woman delivered
Baby Chance weighs less than five pounds. The minor’s family said they are hoping and praying that he’s discharged from the hospital either in September or October.
“His weight is gradually picking up, but the breathing is what we’re concerned with,” Newkirk said. “So, he’s making a little bit of progress, but still some things to do.”
After her story garnered attention, the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, however, said that doctors are not mandated to continue putting a patient on life support after a brain-dead diagnosis under the LIFE Act, 11Alive reported.
“I want them to know that this didn’t have to happen. I want them to know that the law needs to be changed. It doesn’t need to be altered. It doesn’t need to be in effect at all. Women have rights; it’s their body,” Newkirk said.
“We have to get rid of legislation,” Smith’s grandmother, Thelma Edmondson, also said. “We have to get out and vote for positive change. We have to get out and vote. There has to be awakening.”
