By Shefali Luthra, The 19th
Adriana Smith, the pregnant Georgia woman who has been brain-dead since February, gave birth by emergency Caesarean section Friday and is set to be taken off life support this week, her family told a local NBC News affiliate.
The case made national headlines. Smith’s mother said her daughter had to stay on life support until she gave birth because of Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, which has narrow exceptions for rape, incest, or the life or health of the pregnant person. Smith was nine weeks pregnant when she was declared brain-dead.
Smith’s mother told local news that the baby weighs 1 pound and 13 ounces and will require care in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
Emory Hospital, where Smith has been kept, has declined to comment on the case beyond telling the Associated Press that they considered “Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.” The Georgia law holds that after six weeks of pregnancy, embryos and fetuses deserve the same legal protections as people.
The case has sparked broad outcry, with national Democrats denouncing the Georgia law and some state lawmakers calling for clarifications about what is permitted under the law. State Attorney General Chris Carr has said he does not believe that the abortion ban compels health providers to keep a pregnant person on life support until they can give birth. Still, he has not issued a legal opinion asserting as much, despite calls from Democratic state lawmakers.
Some abortion opponents have argued the law would mean Smith should stay on life support. Ed Setzler, a state senator who co-sponsored Georgia’s six-week ban, told the Associated Press that it was “completely appropriate” to keep Smith on life support until she could give birth. Students for Life, an influential anti-abortion group, has said the same.
Georgia is one of four states with a six-week abortion ban; Florida, Iowa and South Carolina have similar laws, including with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life or health of the pregnant person, along with some exceptions for pregnancies with fetal anomalies. Another dozen states ban abortion throughout pregnancy.
Editor’s note: This article was republished from The 19th under a Creative Commons license.