Hospital tells family brain-dead Georgia woman must carry fetus to birth because of abortion ban

ATLANTA AP A pregnant woman in Georgia was declared brain-dead after a healthcare crisis and doctors have kept her on life advocacy for three months so far to allow enough time for the baby to be born and comply with Georgia s strict anti-abortion law family members say She could be kept in that state for months more The episode is the latest consequence of abortion bans introduced in selected states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade three years ago Adriana Smith a -year-old mother and nurse was declared brain-dead meaning she is legally dead in February her mother April Newkirk explained Atlanta TV station WXIA Newkirk noted her daughter had intense headaches more than three months ago and went to Atlanta s Northside Hospital where she received medication and was published The next morning her boyfriend woke to her gasping for air and called Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was declared brain-dead Newkirk declared Smith is now weeks pregnant Removing breathing tubes and other life-saving devices would likely kill the fetus Northside did not respond to a request for comment Thursday Emory Healthcare reported it could not comment on an individual affair because of privacy rules but published a comment saying it uses consensus from clinical experts diagnostic literature and legal guidance to advocacy our providers as they make individualized restoration recommendations in compliance with Georgia s abortion laws and all other applicable laws Our top priorities continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients we serve Georgia s abortion ban Smith s family says Emory doctors have narrated them they are not allowed to stop or remove the devices that are keeping her breathing because state law bans abortion after cardiac activity can be detected generally around six weeks into pregnancy The law was adopted in but not enforced until after Roe v Wade was overturned in the Dobbs v Jackson Women s Medical Organization ruling opening the door to state abortion bans Twelve states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy and three others have bans like Georgia s that kick in after about six weeks Like the others Georgia s ban includes an exception if an abortion is necessary to maintain the woman s life Those exceptions have been at the heart of legal and political questions including a major Texas Supreme Court ruling last year that identified the ban there applies even when there are major pregnancy complications Smith s family including her five-year-old son still visit her in the hospital Newkirk reported WXIA that doctors stated the family that the fetus has fluid on the brain and that they re concerned about his medical She s pregnant with my grandson But he may be blind may not be able to walk may not survive once he s born Newkirk mentioned She has not announced whether the family wants Smith removed from life backing Who has the right to make these decisions Monica Simpson executive director of SisterSong the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia s abortion law disclosed the situation is problematic Her family deserved the right to have decision-making power about her anatomical decisions Simpson mentioned in a message Instead they have endured over days of retraumatization expensive therapeutic costs and the cruelty of being unable to resolve and move toward healing Lois Shepherd a bioethicist and law professor at the University of Virginia stated she does not believe life assistance is legally required in this occurrence But she disclosed whether a state could insist Smith remains on life help is uncertain since the overturning of Roe which discovered that fetuses do not have the rights of people Pre-Dobbs a fetus didn t have any rights Shepherd disclosed And the state s interest in fetal life could not be so strong as to overcome other critical rights but now we don t know What is the fetus prognosis The situation echoes a episode in Texas more than a decade ago when a brain-dead woman was kept on life encouragement for about two months because she was pregnant A judge eventually ruled that the hospital was misapplying state law and life backing was removed Brain death in pregnancy is rare Even rarer still are cases in which doctors aim to prolong the pregnancy after a woman is declared brain-dead It s a very complex situation obviously not only ethically but also medically disclosed Dr Vincenzo Berghella director of maternal fetal medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia A review that Berghella co-authored scoured diagnostic literature going back decades for cases in which doctors declared a woman brain-dead and aimed to prolong her pregnancy It exposed Of those resulted in a live birth the majority either right away declared healthy or with normal follow-up tests But Berghella also cautioned that the Georgia occurrence was much more complex because the pregnancy was less far along when the woman was declared brain dead In the cases he studied doctors were able to prolong the pregnancy by an average of just seven weeks before complications forced them to intervene It s just hard to keep the mother out of infection out of cardiac failure he disclosed Berghella also unveiled a circumstance from Germany that resulted in a live birth when the woman was declared brain dead at nine weeks of pregnancy about as far along as Smith was when she died A spotlight on Georgia s abortion law Georgia s law confers personhood on a fetus Those who favor personhood say fertilized eggs embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born Georgia state Sen Ed Setzler a Republican who sponsored the law stated he supported Emory s interpretation I think it is wholly appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child Setzler explained I think this is an atypical circumstance but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life I think the hospital is acting appropriately Setzler stated he believes it is sometimes acceptable to remove life promotion from someone who is brain dead but that the law is an appropriate check because the mother is pregnant He explained Smith s relatives have good choices including keeping the child or offering it for adoption Georgia s abortion ban has been in the spotlight before Last year ProPublica revealed that two Georgia women died after they did not get proper health remedy for complications from taking abortion pills The stories of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller entered into the presidential race with Democrat Kamala Harris saying the deaths were the impact of the abortion bans that went into effect in Georgia and elsewhere after Dobbs