Brain dead US mother kept on life support by state's abortion ban

Early one morning in February, Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old nurse from Atlanta, was rushed to hospital after her boyfriend found her “gasping for air in her sleep”.

- Phoebe Davis

Blood clots were found on her brain, but it was too late for doctors to save her and she was declared brain dead.

But Smith was nine weeks pregnant. Under Georgia’s Living Infants Fairness and Equality (Life) Act, it is illegal to end a pregnancy after a foetal heartbeat is detected - breaking this “heartbeat law” could lead to up to 10 years in prison. So for 14 weeks, despite the fact that Smith is legally dead, doctors at Emory Healthcare hospital have kept her on a ventilator, with the aim of delivering the baby via caesarean in two months’ time.

Reproductive rights groups have called Smith's case the “canary in the coal mine” for how other states with restrictive abortion laws may prioritise the foetus over the mother.