Overview

• Adriana Smith, 31, was declared brain dead in February after suffering brain clots while nine weeks pregnant and remained on life support to sustain her fetus.
• On June 13 doctors performed an emergency cesarean section delivering a son named Chance at around 26 weeks gestation weighing under one kilogram.
• Life support for Smith was discontinued after the birth and Chance is currently receiving care in a neonatal intensive care unit with potential long-term risks.
• Georgia’s law prohibiting abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected influenced the decision to keep Smith on ventilatory support despite the attorney general’s view that it does not explicitly mandate such measures.
• Smith’s family and Democratic lawmakers are calling for revisions to restrictive abortion statutes to restore patient or family authority in medical decisions.