Remembering Adriana Smith: A Georgia mother laid to rest after carrying baby while brain dead

Keeping brain-dead pregnant women on life support raises ethical issues that go beyond abortion politics

Laws such as Georgia's LIFE Act can complicate ethical and legal decision-making in postmortem pregnancy. Darya Komarova/Moment via Getty ImagesAdriana Smith, a 30-year-old woman from Georgia who had been declared brain-dead in February 2025, spent 16 weeks on life support while doctors worked to keep her body functioning well enough to support her developing fetus. On June 13, 2025, her premature baby, named Chance, was born via cesarean sectio…

Op-Ed: The Arc Of The Well Woman

Source: JLco – Julia Amaral / Getty Somewhere in rural Georgia, a young woman is looking down at two blue lines. She wants to be excited about becoming a mother, but times are hard. She already works long hours just to provide for herself. The nearest health clinic isn’t close. Between the cost of the service and time off work to go, the woman can’t attend regular check-ups during the pregnancy. Unfortunately, this isn’t rare—in Georgia, about 1…

At Adriana Smith’s Funeral, Democratic Lawmaker Calls Out ‘Restrictive Fetal Personhood Regimes’

Adriana Smith, the woman Georgia kept on life support after she was declared brain dead because she was nine weeks pregnant, was laid to rest on Saturday in Lithonia. Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, one of the strictest in the country, has few exceptions—and Smith’s story has placed a harsh spotlight on both the cruelty of state-level abortion bans and how their vague, confusing language makes them that much more difficult for health care worke…

Adriana Smith’s Story Joins a History of Ethically Flawed Medical Experimentation with African Americans

Brain-dead after suffering a fatal stroke and in the early weeks of her pregnancy, the doctors at Emory University Hospital finally turned off the machines after the emergency C-section delivery of her son, Chance, who weighed less than two pounds. Adriana Smith was kept on life support without the consent or input of her family. Four months after her death, she was finally laid to rest this past Friday after a funeral service at Fairfield Bapti…

Funeral held for Georgia mother kept on life support while pregnant

Adriana Smith, the Georgia woman who was declared brain-dead but kept alive for months until her baby could be born, has been laid to rest.

Funeral held for brain-dead pregnant woman kept alive under US abortion law

The 31-year-old had been put on ventilators for four months until her baby was delivered.