Adriana Smith was declared brain dead five months ago. She's just given birth.

In February 2025, Adriana Smith — a 30-year-old nurse and mother — walked into a hospital with severe headaches. Like many women who seek medical advice, concerned about their health, Adriana was turned away and sent home without a CT scan.

By morning, her boyfriend found her gasping for air. When Adriana arrived back at the hospital, it was too late. She had suffered multiple blood clots to her brain, and was declared brain-dead.

For most people, this would be the painful end of a tragic story. 

Watch: Houston Attorney Accused Of Drugging Pregnant Wife To Induce Abortion. Article continues after the video.

But Adriana was nine weeks pregnant. And in the state of Georgia, that meant her body was no longer her own. 

Instead, Adriana's body was kept alive by machines. Not for her own healing. Not even for the comfort of her grieving family. But to serve as an incubator under Georgia's "heartbeat" law. 

The Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act effectively grants personhood to a foetus once cardiac activity is detected — often around six weeks — banning abortion from this time.

Adriana Smith is medically dead. Yet, for almost four months, she remained in a hospital bed, connected to machines. Her mother sat beside her, watching as her chest rose and fell, unable to properly grieve, unable to honour their loved one's body.

"I see my daughter breathing, but she's not there," Adriana's mother, April Newkirk, told People. "It's torture for me."

Adriana's son regularly visited his mother too, forced to watch as she lay still, but unable to speak to her, with no hope to cling to. 

This was the cruel paradox created by abortion bans that do not make exceptions for brain death. 

In Georgia, Adriana's family had no legal right to remove life support. Her body was no longer under their care. Instead, it belonged to the state. To a belief system that says potential life matters more than the dignity of the woman whose body that life relies on.

Almost four months later, Adriana's baby has been born. A little boy, named Chance.

Her mother, April, told 11Alive that her daughter gave birth to a son at 4:41 am on June 13 via emergency Caesarean section. He weighed just one pound and 13 ounces (800g), and was immediately taken to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).

"He's expected to be OK," April told the publication. "He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He's here now."

After celebrating her 31st birthday at the weekend, surrounded by her family, Adriana's life support is set to be turned off on Tuesday, June 17, local time.

Adriana Smith is a mother and a daughter. She is a partner and a friend. 

Adriana is a woman who deserved dignity in both life and death. But instead, her death became a case study in reproductive injustice. A physical reminder of what happens when ideology is prioritised over human rights. When legislation dismisses nuance.

We often hear the term "pro-life" used to defend laws, like the one that kept Adriana's body on machines. But what Adriana endured, what her family endured, was not life.

Shockingly, this isn't an isolated case. 

In 2014, Marlise Muñoz was also declared brain-dead while pregnant. Based in Texas, her family's wishes were overruled. Her body, too, became a state-sanctioned vessel. 

It's temping to read stories like Adriana's and look away. To think only in America. 

But the erosion of human rights rarely happens all at once. It starts with small changes, new restrictions. It grows in silence. 

Adriana's story isn't just about one woman. It's about every woman who believes her body should belong to her — even in death. 

Feature Image: Getty.