A pregnant woman from Georgia who has been on life support for four months has finally given birth to a baby boy. While the newborn is alive and well, the circumstances of the child’s birth have raised some questions and some eyebrows because the baby’s mother has been brain-dead for months and was forcibly kept alive due to Georgia’s rigid abortion laws.
The woman, Adrianna Smith, was also a nurse from Atlanta, Georgia. Due to a blood clot in her brain, Smith suffered a stroke back in February, which rendered her brain dead. Compounding problems is the fact that she was already nine weeks pregnant at that point. Thanks to Georgia’s LIFE Act and abortion laws, the doctors couldn’t pull the plug on Smith’s life support despite her family’s protests because that would also count as aborting the unborn child.
April Newkirk, Smith’s mother, has also stated that the Georgia doctors did not give her daughter and her family a choice in the matter.
Fast forward four months, and the doctors were now able to perform a Caesarian (C-section) operation on Adrianna Smith. Thus, on Friday, June 13, baby Chance was born via C-section, albeit he’s a premature baby and had to be born around 2-3 months earlier. Chance, for the record, weighs only around 1.13 lbs, whereas most newborns weigh around 5-7 lbs.
Smith was essentially kept as a vegetative incubator for the baby, and while Chance is alive, the doctors warned Smith’s mother that Chance could be born with or develop disabilities due to the fluid in the fetus’s brain and other factors. Smith’s family, sadly, is now ready to say goodbye to her as doctors can finally shut down her life support and lay her to rest.
“I shouldn’t be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me,” says April Newkirk, Adrianna Smith’s mother, transcript courtesy of 11Alive.
People Were Mixed Regarding the Issue
It’s miraculous that Chance Smith was born under such disadvantageous circumstances, something that has led to celebratory responses from certain people. Others, however, had to point out the cold, hard truth that Adrianna Smith was used as an incubator simply because certain politicians chose it that way.
So while people who have experienced similar stories about premature babies surviving and thriving, some have argued that Smith’s family should’ve been given a choice in the matter. Adrianna Smith’s case was certainly unique, though it has highlighted just how troublesome Georgia’s laws can be, especially for women.
“Adriana didn’t deliver the baby. He was taken from her body, which was being used as an incubator. She deserved more dignity in her death. May her soul find peace,” prays Andrea Mason
“And layered on this sad loss of the Mom is the inevitable poor outcome of an 825 gram baby in the NICU. It will be miraculous if this baby survives or survives without major disabilities. So sad…,” laments Melissa Sammons Hughes
“He made it to 25 wks gestation, barely viable. Just goes to show that a womans body on a ventilator is not meant to be a incubator. That sweet baby now has so many hurdles ahead of him. And if he passes away his poor 7 yr brother will be devastated again losing Mom and brother,” argues Stephanie Frye
“Prayers! I was told to unplug my son , weighing same. Higher power ! He is now 27 6 ft tall, niece weighed exact and she is perfectly healthy young woman,” claims Shirley Shumate
