Adriana Smith, a pregnant Black woman, was pronounced brain dead in February after receiving a stroke during her pregnancy. Her case has ignited an intense national debate over Georgia’s abortion restrictions. Her case illustrates the complicated realities of navigating reproductive rights and the impact of regressive criminalization of reproductive care on women’s health.
Smith was still suffering debilitating headaches and came to care around 8 weeks pregnant. Right around the same time, her doctor prescribed an antidepressant, which took care of most of her symptoms. However, her condition deteriorated rapidly. The next day when she had trouble breathing, she was immediately readmitted in just hours. Medical personnel found multiple blood clots in her brain, causing her to be declared brain dead shortly thereafter.
A Georgia law prohibiting abortions after six weeks gestation. In response, Emory University Hospital has continued to hold Smith on life support against his will. Additionally, hospital officials were worried about violating state law if they withdrew her from life support. The news poses immediate, serious questions about the state’s anti-abortion law and its effects on medical decision-making.
Responding to a query from Rewire, the Georgia attorney general’s office clarified that the law does not require that Smith be kept on life support. “There is nothing in the Life Act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,” a representative stated. Nevertheless, Smith’s family has voiced their frustrations, arguing that their loved one’s life was undervalued during her time alive.
April Newkirk, a family member, shared her sentiments, stating, “We didn’t have a choice or a say about it.” Frist, Smith’s friends and family are suffering deeply. They are drowning in the complicated legal and ethical obstacles concerning her case.
Adriana Smith’s story resonates on so many levels. It brings to light the real challenges Black women face when seeking care inside the American medical establishment. This population has a historical legacy of systemic inequities and has long been vulnerable to exploitative medical practices. The circumstances surrounding Smith’s case evoke memories of past injustices, leading many to draw comparisons to Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a narrative that critiques patriarchal control over women’s bodies.
As public discourse unfolds around Smith’s case, it raises poignant questions about reproductive rights and societal attitudes toward women’s health. Others argue that Smith should be kept alive, emphasizing that her brain death does not result in her suffering. They argue that this case is a prime example of how society continues to dehumanize women by focusing exclusively on their ability to reproduce.
Even more so, the ambiguity about whether Smith’s baby lived or didn’t only complicates this tragic narrative further. The family remains hopeful yet anxious about the outcome, reflecting broader societal concerns about maternal health and rights.