Baby of Brain Dead Georgia Woman Delivered via C-Section

Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old woman in Georgia, was approximately nine weeks pregnant when she fell ill and was declared brain dead in February. Because Georgia’s abortion laws prevent terminating a pregnancy after a heartbeat is detectable, she was kept on life support until June 17, when her baby was delivered via c-section.

The Removal of Consent: Elizabeth Bruenig (Left bias) of The Atlantic (Left) highlighted the reactions of pro-choice individuals to this case, writing that Smith’s situation “reflects what abortion advocates take to be the unstated premises of anti-abortion politics: that women’s bodies and lives are expendable resources meant only to produce children.” However, Bruenig also argued that even if “mapping abortion rights onto her case is difficult,” the hospital denying Smith’s family the opportunity and right to make decisions about keeping her on life support was a “meaningful abrogation of choice.”

Prevention of Unnecessary Death: National Review (Right) published an opinion suggesting that the hospital made the right decision to use “mechanical support to allow her baby to be gestated.” The writer, Wesley J. Smith, argued, “If Adriana’s body had been removed from mechanical support, there would have been two deaths” instead of just one, and that the point was “to fulfill Adriana’s motherhood, not disrespect her humanity.” The article also touched on the question of consent, asking, “Would Adriana have wanted her death to kill her child?” Ultimately, it concluded that “there is nothing to indicate in the story that she would.”

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