THEEi is in a state of brain death. But inside his cover there is a 22 -week fetus that continues to grow. And for this life his body also remains attached to the machines. Detaching the woman would mean aborting the fetus. And abortion, in the state of Georgia in which this story is staged, at this point of gestation it is prohibited. The story of Adriana Smith, kept alive so that her body can complete pregnancyhas exploded in the international media, arousing pressing questions about the ethics of theUse of the anti-abortion law To keep a woman under intensive care without the possibility of healing.
“He has his fingers, his arms, the limbs: everything is forming,” said the woman’s mother, April Newkirk, atlocal television broadcaster 11th referring to the fetus. “We only hope that chance (so it was called, too early, editor’s note) survives.”
Adriana Smith kept alive because it is pregnant: the law of Georgia prohibits abortion
As reported by Guardian, Adriana Smith was at the eighth week of pregnancy when, in February, she showed up in hospital for a strong headache. It was discharged with some drugs to return to the hospital, and running, the next day. Some blood clots in the brain have brought it to brain death in a few hours.
According to the law of Georgia, The abortion is prohibited after about six weeks of pregnancy. The standard also contains provisions on “Fetal personality”, According to which embryos and fetuses should be considered people. As such, bearers of rights, to whom to lend legal protections. The law would therefore impose doctors to keep Adriana Smith in life to preserve pregnancy.
To the annual “march for life” of Washington, agen 2025 (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Brain death and fetus that cannot be aborted
The project is to keep it attached to the respirator Until the beginning of August, when the child will be born with a cesarean cut. At that point his mother’s body can be left to go.
“We had no choice nor voice,” explained his mother. “We want the child. It is a part of my daughter. But the decision should have been left to us, not the state ».
“The chances that in the end a healthy newborn born are really very low», He said to Washington Post Steven Ralston, director of the George Washington University maternal-fetal medicine division. They have already found liquid in the brain. It may be blind, it may not be able to walk, it may not survive once born. But “whatever the condition in which God will allow him to come here, We will love it the same», It is the position of the family.
The abortion prohibited in the United States and the doctrine of the fetal personality
In the years following the cancellation of the Roe sentence against Wade of 2022, dozens of pregnant women said that the ban on abortion led them to see abortion even in the event of medical emergencies. But Smith’s case is decidedly striking, so much so that he triggered a national debate on medical consent and on the potentially radical scope of anti-abortion laws.
The very institution of the fetal personality can lead to To contrast the rights of a person pregnant with those of the fetus he carries on his womb. As for years, activists have warned for the right to abortion.
“The removal of vital support is not equivalent to abortion”
The fact that doctors are obliged by law to keep Adriana Smith alive, however, is also contested by the Georgia prosecutor General, Chris Carr. “The removal of vital support is not an action aimed at interrupting a pregnancy,” said his spokesperson, Kara Murray, in the declaration.
While according to the senator of the state of Georgia, and Setzler, who promoted the ban on abortion in the state, «It is completely appropriate that the hospital does everything possible to save the life of the child, innocent human life».
“The life of his son is still important”
Students for life of America, a powerful national anti-abortion group, also supported the decision to keep Smith under intensive care. «Although Adriana can no longer speak for himself, the life of her son is still important. His doctors are doing the right thing by treating him as a unique patient“, The organization said in a note, accompanied by a fundraising for Smith’s family.
Smith’s family has its own fundraising to help her cover the costs associated with her care and the possibility that her son was born with a disability.
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