Brain-dead woman kept alive because of abortion laws gives birth in Georgia

Adriana Smith has given birth to a premature boy her family has named Chance. Smith was brain dead after suffering blood clots on her brain but was kept alive for three months because of the abortion laws in Georgia, US. Photo / GoFundMe

A brain-dead pregnant woman who was kept alive in the southern US state of Georgia because of local abortion restrictions has given birth.

The mother was then removed from life support.

Adriana Smith captivated attention across the US, where access to abortion has changed radically since the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the federal right to terminate a pregnancy.

“On Friday, June 13, 2025, her infant son, named Chance, was born prematurely at approximately 4.41am via emergency Cesarean section,” three Democratic congresswomen said.

“Chance weighs about one pound, 13 ounces [500g] and is currently in the NICU,” the statement said, adding that Smith was removed from life support the following Tuesday.

Declared brain dead

Smith, a registered nurse, was suffering serious headaches in February when she was nine weeks pregnant. An initial hospital visit ended with only a prescription for medication.

The next morning, when the then 30-year-old was taken to the hospital where she worked, doctors found multiple blood clots in her brain, and she was declared brain dead.

Georgia law bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy – one of the country’s so-called “heartbeat” laws, referring to the approximate first detection of a foetal heartbeat.

As Smith was nine weeks along, doctors were hesitant to do anything that could contravene the law, according to her mother, April Newkirk.

“This decision should’ve been left to us,” she told local NBC broadcaster WXIA-TV in mid-May.

“I’m not saying that we would have chosen to terminate her pregnancy, what I’m saying is: we should have had a choice,” Newkirk said.

In June 2022, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 case that established federal protections for abortion access.

Since the Supreme Court’s decision, more than 20 out of 50 states – including Georgia – have imposed strict limits on abortions, or even outright bans.

The congresswomen – Nikema Williams, Ayanna Pressley and Sara Jacobs – are pushing for better protections of the rights of pregnant women, “particularly black women, who are disproportionately impacted by systemic medical neglect and restrictive anti-abortion laws”.

“The lack of a formal legal opinion or prosecutorial guidance leaves families and doctors in limbo,” said the lawmakers, who have presented a congressional resolution on the issue.

- Agence France-Presse