Brain Dead Woman Kept Alive Due To GA Abortion Ban Delivers By C-Section

ATLANTA, GA — Adriana Smith, an Atlanta woman and registered nurse who was kept alive for months after she was declared brain dead while pregnant, had a baby boy delivered by emergency cesarean section, according to a report citing her family.

Smith, a 31-year-old nurse who works at Emory University Hospital, was kept alive for four months through "intensive medical intervention" due to Georgia's Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act, also known as the "heartbeat law," which forbids abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

Doctors kept Smith on life support to allow enough time for the baby to be born and comply with the law, family members said.

In an interview with 11Alive, Smith's mother said the baby was born Friday, June 13. The baby, whom they named Chance, weighed 1 pound 13 ounces and remains in the NICU.

• RELATED: Brain Dead Woman Must Deliver Fetus Due To GA Abortion Ban, Family Says

"He's expected to be OK," April Newkirk told 11Alive. "He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He's here now."

Newkirk said now that the baby was born, the hospital will take Smith off life support next week.

Smith entered the hospital after experiencing massive headaches and waking up out of her to sleep while gasping for air, according to previous reports. Multiple blood clots were found in her brain.

Unable to complete a procedure, physicians declared Smith brain dead.

Smith was required to stay on life support until she was at 32 weeks gestation, when the child could survive outside of her womb. Removing breathing tubes and other life-saving devices earlier would have likely killed the fetus.

Georgia's Abortion Law

Current Georgia law considers miscarriages and stillbirths "spontaneous abortions." This language is reflected in the 2019 Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act, also known as the "heartbeat law."

Presently, a woman can be prosecuted if she seeks an abortion because "she reasonably believed that an abortion was the only way to prevent a medical emergency."

The LIFE Act restricts abortions at six weeks of gestation. After being overturned in 2022, the Georgia Supreme Court reinstated the law in October while its constitutionality was being evaluated.

There are some exceptions to the law, such as a medical emergency that puts the mother's life at risk.

Georgia's law confers personhood on a fetus. Those who favor personhood say fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born.

Last year, ProPublica reported that two Georgia women died after they did not get proper medical treatment for complications from taking abortion pills. The stories of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller entered into the presidential race, with Democrat Kamala Harris saying the deaths were the result of the abortion bans that went into effect in Georgia and elsewhere after Dobbs.

In February, Georgia lawmakers weighed a bill that could potentially ban abortions in all instances and prohibit in vitro fertilization.

If it passed, House Bill 441 (2025-26 legislation) would charge a mother with the "murder … of unborn children." The bill would additionally "remove exceptions that allow for assault and battery on an unborn child" and would benefit a child's rights from fertilization, it stated.

HB 441 never made it out of the House before the Georgia General Assembly's recess.

Includes reporting from The Associated Press.

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