Adriana Smith’s mom shares update on baby: ‘He’s just fighting’

The family of Adriana Smith, a pregnant woman who abortion advocates claimed was kept on life support due to Georgia’s abortion law, asked people to pray for Smith’s son, who was born prematurely and delivered by cesarean section.

According to Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, baby Chance is in the neonatal intensive care unit, and he weighs about 1 pound 13 ounces, local news station WXIA-TV reported earlier this week. The grandmother said that Chance, who was born prematurely around 4:41 a.m. on Friday, is “expected to be OK.”

“He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He’s here now,” Newkirk said. 

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Newkirk expressed grief over the loss of her daughter, a registered nurse who celebrated her 31st birthday over the weekend and was scheduled to have her life support removed Tuesday. The grandmother told the outlet that she is trying to keep it together for the sake of her grandchildren. 

In addition to Chance, Newkirk also has a 7-year-old grandson, and he said the family would have a discussion with the child to help him understand that he now has a little brother. During the time that Smith has been on life support, the 7-year-old thought that his mother was only sleeping, according to Newkirk.

“It’s kind of hard, you know,” Smith’s mom said. “It’s hard to process.”

“I’m her mother,” she added. “I shouldn’t be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me.”

Smith has been on life support since February following a medical emergency that resulted in doctors declaring the young woman brain dead. In February, Smith sought treatment for severe headaches from Northside Hospital, which provided her with medication before releasing her. 

The next day, Smith’s boyfriend found her gasping for air, and she was rushed to Emory University Hospital. The hospital determined that Smith had blood clots in her brain and declared her brain dead.

According to Smith’s family, the doctors informed them that they were required to keep her on life support due to Georgia’s abortion law, House Bill 481, also known as the LIFE Act. The law prohibits most abortions once an unborn child’s heartbeat becomes detectable, which is usually around six weeks of gestation.

Newkirk previously told WXIA-TV that she believed it was the family’s choice to decide whether they wanted to terminate Smith’s pregnancy, which they did not do. 

“I think all women should have a choice about their body. And I think I want people to know that,” she said.

While Emory Healthcare didn’t comment on Smith’s case directly, the hospital told The Associated Press in May that 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.”

“Our top priorities continue to be the safety and well-being of the patients we serve,” Emory Healthcare stated.

Smith’s case received national attention from abortion activists, including Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., the co-chair of the “Reproductive Freedom Caucus.” In a Tuesday statement, the caucus announced a resolution asking the government to repeal state laws against abortion, among other requests. 

Pressley claimed that Smith and her family were “failed by a broken system,” citing the family’s experience as a reason for Congress and states to “end cruel abortion bans, end fetal personhood laws, and confront the Black maternal morbidity crisis once and for all.” 

While the caucus statement acknowledged the Georgia attorney general’s explanation that the state’s LIFE Act doesn’t require doctors to keep women on life support after brain death, the lawmakers claimed that doctors and families are still confused by it. 

In a May article for Secular Pro-Life, Monica Snyder asserted that it’s unlikely that Georgia’s abortion law had anything to do with the hospital keeping Smith on life support. Snyder is the executive director of Secular Pro-Life and has a bachelor’s degree in chemical biology and a master’s degree in forensic science. 

Citing Georgia’s abortion law, the pro-life atheist stressed that the law defines abortion as “the act of using, prescribing, or administering any instrument, substance, device, or other means with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy.”

She argued that removing someone from life support does not involve “administering” anything, stating that it’s more likely that the hospital acted the way it did due to Georgia’s law regarding the withdrawal of life support for pregnant patients.

Enacted in 2007, GA Code § 31-32-9 says doctors cannot remove life support from a pregnant patient unless her unborn child isn’t viable or if the woman had outlined in an advanced directive that she wanted life-saving measures withdrawn.

“It’s a testament to how very little abortion advocates value unborn children, that even in a case where the woman (1) cannot be harmed by continuing the pregnancy and (2) may very well have wanted her child to live, the framing is outrage that her son’s life is prioritized,” Snyder stated.