Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old mother, sought emergency care for severe headaches but was sent home without scans. She returned the next day gasping for air; a CT scan found multiple blood clots and she was declared brain-dead. Because she was nine weeks pregnant and Georgia enforces a strict six-week abortion ban with few exceptions, the hospital placed her on a ventilator without family permission. A premature infant, Chance, was delivered via C-section on June 13 weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces and was removed from life support days later. Legal ambiguity and fear of penalties influenced hospital decisions.
The story of Adriana Smith continues to be one of the more dystopian, how-is-this-happening stories of our post- Roe v. Wade world. Robbing a woman of her bodily autonomy after she died is something I thought I'd only ever read about in novels where theocratic dictators build baby-making warehouses to artificially inseminate enslaved women or aliens invade the world. But no, it's just the United States in 2025.
In February, the 30-year-old then-mother-of-one went to an emergency room in Georgia, complaining of severe headaches, but was sent home without any scans or testing done. She was rushed back to the hospital a day later, after her boyfriend woke up in the middle of the night to find her gasping for air. A CT scan revealed multiple blood clots, and she was declared brain-dead hours later.
The state's six-week abortion ban is one of the strictest in the country and has very few exceptions, and Smith's story sparked international outcry. Due to the ban's muddy language and harsh penalties if healthcare providers fail to interpret the law correctly, the Georgia hospital seemingly kept Smith on life support out of fear that they'd be fired, or their have their licenses revoked.
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