According to PEOPLE nearly four months ago, Adriana Smith, a 31-year-old nurse from Atlanta and mother to a seven-year-old, suffered a catastrophic medical emergency.
Declared brain dead at just nine weeks pregnant due to blood clots in her brain, Adriana remained on life support—not by choice, but because Georgia’s post-Roe abortion laws forced hospitals to keep her body “alive” for the fetus.
Fast-forward to June 13, 2025, when doctors performed an emergency C-section. Her son, now named Chance, arrived weighing a fragile 1 pound 13 ounces. Although premature, he’s reportedly stable in NICU care. Four days later, Adriana’s life support was removed.
April Newkirk, Smith’s mother, confirmed to Atlanta news channel 11Alive, an NBC affiliate, that her daughter was removed from life support on Tuesday. Newkirk said she was frustrated that despite going to a hospital because of severe headaches, Smith was sent home after being denied proper medical testing that could have saved her life.
“All women should have a choice about their bodies,” Newkirk said. “And I think I want people to know that [Adriana] was a nurse, an RN. The same field that she worked in is the same people who failed her. Can you understand what I’m saying? They didn’t go that extra mile, not even that extra mile. They didn’t even do a CT scan on her. That would have detected it.
“I’m her mother. I shouldn’t be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me.”
Newkirk told the outlet that her grandson weighs one pound, 13 ounces and is currently being treated in the NICU at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
Adriana’s case falls into a chilling gray space. Under Georgia’s Life Act, abortions post-six weeks are banned except in “medical emergencies.” But brain death—though fatal—is legally still pregnancy.
Hospitals feared violating the law if they removed life support before the baby was viable. Even advocates say this highlights how these laws can override autonomy and consent.
Newkirk named him Chance: “Because I feel like he had a second chance at life, you know?” She asks for prayers for her family as they continue to bear Smith’s loss.
“It’s very heartbreaking, and you try to be strong, but it’s hard,” she said. “It’s very hard.”
