‘Brain dead’ Georgia mother delivers 1-pound baby boy after 4 months on life support – LifeSite
Fri Jun 20, 2025 – 12:11 pm EDT
ATLANTA, Georgia (LifeSiteNews) — After being on life support for four months, a Georgia woman has delivered a one-pound baby boy.
On June 13, 31-year-old Adriana Smith, an Atlanta nurse who was declared “brain dead” – a baseless term used to justify organ harvesting – in February while pregnant, underwent an emergency cesarean section at 29 weeks, giving birth to a one-pound, 13-ounce baby boy, according to local media outlet 11Alive.
READ: ‘Brain death’ is a fallacy used to prop up the organ harvesting industry
“He’s expected to be OK,” Adriana’s mother, April Newkirk, said. “He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He’s here now.”
The baby boy, named Chance, is currently receiving care in the NICU.
In February, Adriana was admitted to the hospital after suffering a medical emergency linked to blood clots in her brain. At the time, she was eight weeks pregnant. While there, Adriana was declared “brain dead.”
While most so-called “brain dead” patients are taken off life support shortly after the diagnosis, though many have naturally recovered, Adriana has been kept alive for the past four months in order for her unborn baby to be delivered.
Georgia’s LIFE Act, effective since 2022, recognizes an unborn child with a detectable heartbeat as a person. The law prohibits abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy.
The law does not explicitly mandate that hospitals keep mothers alive to deliver their babies. However, Emory University Hospital in Atlanta declared that Adriana would be kept on life support, allowing her baby boy to be born.
This decision, made public in a May interview with April, has brought the ire of abortion activists who claim the pro-life law contradicts Adriana’s personal autonomy – in other words, that it violates her “rights” by not allowing her to be killed.
On June 17, a few days after Chance’s birth, Adriana was taken off life support, according to 11 Alive. It is not known if Adriana has passed away.
However, while abortion activists rage, what they failed to recognize is that while Adriana may have lost her life, her baby boy was given the gift of life.
