(The Lion) — An unborn baby boy is depending on his pregnant mother’s life support and Georgia’s pro-life heartbeat bill to survive.
Thirty-year-old Adrian Smith was declared brain-dead in February after she suffered brain clots when she was nine weeks pregnant.
Currently, she is on life support at 21 weeks pregnant, and doctors are hoping to sustain the baby boy to 32 weeks, when he will be fully developed and can be delivered via Cesarean section, Students for Life of America reports.
Although brain dead means Smith is legally dead, Georgia’s Living Infants and Equality Act protects the life in her womb. The law defends life from the detection of a heartbeat, which is approximately six weeks of pregnancy.
Pro-abortion media are bashing Georgia for the law and claiming Smith’s family should make the decision regarding her life-support.
“Her family is upset that Georgia’s law that restricts abortion once cardiac activity is detected doesn’t allow relatives to have a say in whether a pregnant woman is kept on life support,” the Associated Press reported.
“Georgia’s so-called ‘heartbeat law’ is among the restrictive abortion statutes that have been put in place in many conservative states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago.”
Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, told the Atlanta NBC station that Emory University Hospital, where mother and child are, informed the family of the decision to continue life support.
“I’m not saying that we would have chosen to terminate her pregnancy, but what I’m saying is, we should have had a choice,” she said.
Students for Life of America says it recognizes the financial burden of continued life-support, and launched a fundraiser page to support Smith, her son and her family.
“Medical bills are no joke. What Adriana Smith and her family need right now is concrete, compassionate support – not the politicization of their situation,” Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins said in a statement.
“We stand with Adriana and Baby Smith, just as we stand with every mother and child throughout America in need of help and support.”
Emory Healthcare said it could not comment on Smith’s case due to confidentiality, but a spokesperson said it consults clinical experts, legal guidance and medical literature to comply with Georgia law, NBC reported.
“Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve,” the spokesperson told NBC.
Georgia state Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, who sponsored the heartbeat bill in 2019, defended Emory University Hospital’s interpretation of the bill, the AP writes.
“I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child,” Setzler told the news agency. “I think this is an unusual circumstance, but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life. I think the hospital is acting appropriately.”
