The baby of Adriana Smith, a brain-dead pregnant woman who was being kept alive by ventilators under Georgia’s abortion law, was delivered Friday, her family said.
Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, told NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta that the baby, named Chance, was born prematurely via emergency cesarean section. She said the baby weighed about 1 pound, 13 ounces and is in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“He’s expected to be OK,” she told the station. “He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him.”
Smith also has an older son.
Newkirk did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment Tuesday.
She previously told WXIA that the family was required to keep Smith alive under the state’s near-total abortion ban, known as the LIFE Act. Smith, whose family celebrated her 31st birthday Sunday, has been hospitalized since February after she initially sought treatment for severe headaches, her family has said.
Newkirk said Smith initially went to Northside Hospital but was released and given medication. She said the hospital did not run any scans or tests.
Northside did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
A day after she sought treatment, Smith’s boyfriend woke to find her gasping for air and making gargling noises, Newkirk told WXIA. Smith was rushed to Emory Decatur Hospital and transferred to Emory University Hospital, where a CT scan showed multiple blood clots in her brain, the station reported.
Newkirk said her daughter was declared brain-dead and placed on a ventilator. She told WXIA this week that Smith will be taken off life support Tuesday.
“It’s kind of hard, you know,” she told the station. “It’s hard to process.”
In Georgia, abortions are illegal after six weeks of pregnancy. Exceptions include some situations to protect women’s lives and health, when fetal anomalies are detected and in cases of rape and incest that have been documented with police.
The state Attorney General’s Office said in May that nothing in the LIFE Act “requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,” WXIA reported.
The office said removing a patient from life support “is not an action with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy.” But Republican state Sen. Ed Setzler, who sponsored the 2019 law, told The Associated Press that he supported the hospital’s actions.
“I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child,” he said. “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.”
An Emory Healthcare spokesperson said its top priorities “continue to be the safety and wellbeing of the patients and families we serve.”
“Emory Healthcare uses consensus from clinical experts, medical literature and legal guidance to support our providers as they make medical recommendations,” the spokesperson said. “Emory Healthcare is legally required to maintain the confidentiality of the protected health information of our patients, which is why we are unable to comment on individual matters and circumstances.”
