Roe v. Wade overturned?

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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It doesn't seem to say anything about the support of family or loved ones which is also extremely important to support a woman who is dealing with health issues. When I miscarried, I needed my spouse's support. I feel badly for women who don't have that support & perhaps this organization will help with that.
It does. "It also states that women’s health care should address the needs of men, families, and communities."

The author is fresh out of journalism school (6 month into her first journalism job) in her early twenties. If the story were written by 45 year old mother of 2 the story would be written differently from a position of experience and maturity.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Mar 18, 2013
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It does. "It also states that women’s health care should address the needs of men, families, and communities."

The author is fresh out of journalism school (6 month into her first journalism job) in her early twenties. If the story were written by 45 year old mother of 2 the story would be written differently from a position of experience and maturity.
Cuz all 45-year-olds are more experienced and mature than any 23-year-old.
 

Serryah

Hall of Fame Member
Dec 3, 2008
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Indiana wants women to jump through hoops to get abortion meds and sign affidavits to say they were raped.


But it's not about control of women at all! It's about the babies! (only in the womb though, once they're birthed who gives a shit, right?)
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Indiana wants women to jump through hoops to get abortion meds and sign affidavits to say they were raped.


But it's not about control of women at all! It's about the babies! (only in the womb though, once they're birthed who gives a shit, right?)
They shouldnt report being raped? Are you fucked?

Help me OBGYNkenobe you're our only help.
 
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spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Hospital tells family brain-dead Georgia woman must carry fetus to birth because of abortion ban
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Associated Press
Published May 15, 2025 • 4 minute read

ATLANTA — A pregnant woman in Georgia was declared brain-dead after a medical emergency and has been kept on life support for three months by doctors to allow enough time for the baby to be born and comply with Georgia’s strict anti-abortion law, family members say.


The case is the latest consequence of abortion bans introduced in some states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago.

Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old mother and nurse, was declared brain-dead — meaning she is legally dead — in February, her mother, April Newkirk, told Atlanta TV station WXIA.

Newkirk said her daughter had intense headaches more than three months ago and went to Atlanta’s Northside Hospital, where she received medication and was released. The next morning, her boyfriend woke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was later declared brain-dead.

Newkirk said Smith is now 21 weeks pregnant. Removing breathing tubes and other life-saving devices would likely kill the fetus.


Neither hospital immediately responded to emails Thursday from The Associated Press.

Georgia’s abortion ban

Smith’s family says Emory doctors have told them they are not allowed to stop or remove the devices that are keeping her breathing because of a provision in state law that bans abortion after cardiac activity can be detected — generally around six weeks into pregnancy.

The law was adopted in 2019 but not enforced until after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, opening the door to state abortion bans. Georgia’s ban includes an exception if an abortion is necessary to maintain the life of the woman.


Smith’s family, including her five-year-old son, still visit her in the hospital.


Newkirk said doctors told the family that the fetus has fluid on the brain and that they’re concerned about his health.

“She’s pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born,” Newkirk said. Newkirk has not commented on whether the family wants Smith removed from life support.

Who has the right to make these decisions?

Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, which is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s strict abortion law, said the situation is problematic.

“Her family deserved the right to have decision-making power about her medical decisions,” Simpson said in a statement. “Instead, they have endured over 90 days of retraumatization, expensive medical costs, and the cruelty of being unable to resolve and move toward healing.”


Lois Shepherd, a bioethicist and law professor at the University of Virginia, said she does not believe Georgia’s law requires life support in this case.

But she said whether a state could insist Smith remains on the breathing and other devices is uncertain since the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned all the parts of the Roe ruling, including the finding that fetuses do not have the rights of people.

“Pre-Dobbs, a fetus didn’t have any rights,” Shepherd said. “And the state’s interest in fetal life could not be so strong as to overcome other important rights, but now we don’t know.”

Georgia’s law confers personhood on a fetus. Those who favor personhood say fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born.


Georgia state Sen. Ed Setzler, a Republican who sponsored the 2019 law, said he supported Emory’s interpretation.

“I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child,” Setzler 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.”

Setzler said he believes it is sometimes acceptable to remove life support from someone who is brain dead, but said the law is “an appropriate check” because the mother is pregnant.

“I think there’s a valuable human life that we have an opportunity to save and I think it’s the right thing to save it,” he said. “To suggest otherwise is to declare the child as being other than human.”


Setzler said the woman’s relatives do have “good choices,” including keeping the child or offering it for adoption.

Abortion laws in other states

The situation echoes a case in Texas more than a decade ago when a brain-dead woman was kept on maintenance measures for about two months because she was pregnant. A judge eventually ruled that the hospital keeping her alive against her family’s wishes was misapplying state law, and life support was removed.

Twelve states are enforcing abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. Georgia is one of four with a ban that kicks in at or around six weeks into pregnancy — often before women realize they’re pregnant.

Last year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled unanimously against a group of women who challenged that state’s abortion ban, saying the exceptions were being interpreted so narrowly that they were denied abortion access as they dealt with serious pregnancy complications. This year, the state Senate has passed a bill that seeks to clarify when abortions are allowed.

South Dakota produced a video to inform doctors about when exceptions should apply. Abortion rights groups have blasted it.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in December over whether the federal law that requires hospitals to provide abortion in emergency medical situations should apply. A ruling is expected in coming months.
 
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petros

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Nov 21, 2008
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Hospital tells family brain-dead Georgia woman must carry fetus to birth because of abortion ban
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Associated Press
Published May 15, 2025 • 4 minute read

ATLANTA — A pregnant woman in Georgia was declared brain-dead after a medical emergency and has been kept on life support for three months by doctors to allow enough time for the baby to be born and comply with Georgia’s strict anti-abortion law, family members say.


The case is the latest consequence of abortion bans introduced in some states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago.

Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old mother and nurse, was declared brain-dead — meaning she is legally dead — in February, her mother, April Newkirk, told Atlanta TV station WXIA.

Newkirk said her daughter had intense headaches more than three months ago and went to Atlanta’s Northside Hospital, where she received medication and was released. The next morning, her boyfriend woke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was later declared brain-dead.

Newkirk said Smith is now 21 weeks pregnant. Removing breathing tubes and other life-saving devices would likely kill the fetus.


Neither hospital immediately responded to emails Thursday from The Associated Press.

Georgia’s abortion ban

Smith’s family says Emory doctors have told them they are not allowed to stop or remove the devices that are keeping her breathing because of a provision in state law that bans abortion after cardiac activity can be detected — generally around six weeks into pregnancy.

The law was adopted in 2019 but not enforced until after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, opening the door to state abortion bans. Georgia’s ban includes an exception if an abortion is necessary to maintain the life of the woman.


Smith’s family, including her five-year-old son, still visit her in the hospital.


Newkirk said doctors told the family that the fetus has fluid on the brain and that they’re concerned about his health.

“She’s pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born,” Newkirk said. Newkirk has not commented on whether the family wants Smith removed from life support.

Who has the right to make these decisions?

Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, which is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s strict abortion law, said the situation is problematic.

“Her family deserved the right to have decision-making power about her medical decisions,” Simpson said in a statement. “Instead, they have endured over 90 days of retraumatization, expensive medical costs, and the cruelty of being unable to resolve and move toward healing.”


Lois Shepherd, a bioethicist and law professor at the University of Virginia, said she does not believe Georgia’s law requires life support in this case.

But she said whether a state could insist Smith remains on the breathing and other devices is uncertain since the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned all the parts of the Roe ruling, including the finding that fetuses do not have the rights of people.

“Pre-Dobbs, a fetus didn’t have any rights,” Shepherd said. “And the state’s interest in fetal life could not be so strong as to overcome other important rights, but now we don’t know.”

Georgia’s law confers personhood on a fetus. Those who favor personhood say fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born.


Georgia state Sen. Ed Setzler, a Republican who sponsored the 2019 law, said he supported Emory’s interpretation.

“I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child,” Setzler 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.”

Setzler said he believes it is sometimes acceptable to remove life support from someone who is brain dead, but said the law is “an appropriate check” because the mother is pregnant.

“I think there’s a valuable human life that we have an opportunity to save and I think it’s the right thing to save it,” he said. “To suggest otherwise is to declare the child as being other than human.”


Setzler said the woman’s relatives do have “good choices,” including keeping the child or offering it for adoption.

Abortion laws in other states

The situation echoes a case in Texas more than a decade ago when a brain-dead woman was kept on maintenance measures for about two months because she was pregnant. A judge eventually ruled that the hospital keeping her alive against her family’s wishes was misapplying state law, and life support was removed.

Twelve states are enforcing abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. Georgia is one of four with a ban that kicks in at or around six weeks into pregnancy — often before women realize they’re pregnant.

Last year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled unanimously against a group of women who challenged that state’s abortion ban, saying the exceptions were being interpreted so narrowly that they were denied abortion access as they dealt with serious pregnancy complications. This year, the state Senate has passed a bill that seeks to clarify when abortions are allowed.

South Dakota produced a video to inform doctors about when exceptions should apply. Abortion rights groups have blasted it.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in December over whether the federal law that requires hospitals to provide abortion in emergency medical situations should apply. A ruling is expected in coming months.
Wow. The article completely ignores an important person in this "story".

I don't know of a mother who wouldn't want everything possible done to save their child.

This article is an abuse. Disgusting.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

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May 28, 2007
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From the article:Newkirk has not commented on whether the family wants Smith removed from life support.

So speculation about whether the request to pull the plug has even been made.
 

Dixie Cup

Senate Member
Sep 16, 2006
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Hospital tells family brain-dead Georgia woman must carry fetus to birth because of abortion ban
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Associated Press
Published May 15, 2025 • 4 minute read

ATLANTA — A pregnant woman in Georgia was declared brain-dead after a medical emergency and has been kept on life support for three months by doctors to allow enough time for the baby to be born and comply with Georgia’s strict anti-abortion law, family members say.


The case is the latest consequence of abortion bans introduced in some states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago.

Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old mother and nurse, was declared brain-dead — meaning she is legally dead — in February, her mother, April Newkirk, told Atlanta TV station WXIA.

Newkirk said her daughter had intense headaches more than three months ago and went to Atlanta’s Northside Hospital, where she received medication and was released. The next morning, her boyfriend woke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was later declared brain-dead.

Newkirk said Smith is now 21 weeks pregnant. Removing breathing tubes and other life-saving devices would likely kill the fetus.


Neither hospital immediately responded to emails Thursday from The Associated Press.

Georgia’s abortion ban

Smith’s family says Emory doctors have told them they are not allowed to stop or remove the devices that are keeping her breathing because of a provision in state law that bans abortion after cardiac activity can be detected — generally around six weeks into pregnancy.

The law was adopted in 2019 but not enforced until after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, opening the door to state abortion bans. Georgia’s ban includes an exception if an abortion is necessary to maintain the life of the woman.


Smith’s family, including her five-year-old son, still visit her in the hospital.


Newkirk said doctors told the family that the fetus has fluid on the brain and that they’re concerned about his health.

“She’s pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born,” Newkirk said. Newkirk has not commented on whether the family wants Smith removed from life support.

Who has the right to make these decisions?

Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, which is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s strict abortion law, said the situation is problematic.

“Her family deserved the right to have decision-making power about her medical decisions,” Simpson said in a statement. “Instead, they have endured over 90 days of retraumatization, expensive medical costs, and the cruelty of being unable to resolve and move toward healing.”


Lois Shepherd, a bioethicist and law professor at the University of Virginia, said she does not believe Georgia’s law requires life support in this case.

But she said whether a state could insist Smith remains on the breathing and other devices is uncertain since the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned all the parts of the Roe ruling, including the finding that fetuses do not have the rights of people.

“Pre-Dobbs, a fetus didn’t have any rights,” Shepherd said. “And the state’s interest in fetal life could not be so strong as to overcome other important rights, but now we don’t know.”

Georgia’s law confers personhood on a fetus. Those who favor personhood say fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born.


Georgia state Sen. Ed Setzler, a Republican who sponsored the 2019 law, said he supported Emory’s interpretation.

“I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child,” Setzler 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.”

Setzler said he believes it is sometimes acceptable to remove life support from someone who is brain dead, but said the law is “an appropriate check” because the mother is pregnant.

“I think there’s a valuable human life that we have an opportunity to save and I think it’s the right thing to save it,” he said. “To suggest otherwise is to declare the child as being other than human.”


Setzler said the woman’s relatives do have “good choices,” including keeping the child or offering it for adoption.

Abortion laws in other states

The situation echoes a case in Texas more than a decade ago when a brain-dead woman was kept on maintenance measures for about two months because she was pregnant. A judge eventually ruled that the hospital keeping her alive against her family’s wishes was misapplying state law, and life support was removed.

Twelve states are enforcing abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. Georgia is one of four with a ban that kicks in at or around six weeks into pregnancy — often before women realize they’re pregnant.

Last year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled unanimously against a group of women who challenged that state’s abortion ban, saying the exceptions were being interpreted so narrowly that they were denied abortion access as they dealt with serious pregnancy complications. This year, the state Senate has passed a bill that seeks to clarify when abortions are allowed.

South Dakota produced a video to inform doctors about when exceptions should apply. Abortion rights groups have blasted it.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in December over whether the federal law that requires hospitals to provide abortion in emergency medical situations should apply. A ruling is expected in coming months.
YAY! A baby that'll be born no matter what. That's great!! I'm sure the mom would approve if she were alive!
 

Taxslave2

House Member
Aug 13, 2022
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Hospital tells family brain-dead Georgia woman must carry fetus to birth because of abortion ban
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Associated Press
Published May 15, 2025 • 4 minute read

ATLANTA — A pregnant woman in Georgia was declared brain-dead after a medical emergency and has been kept on life support for three months by doctors to allow enough time for the baby to be born and comply with Georgia’s strict anti-abortion law, family members say.


The case is the latest consequence of abortion bans introduced in some states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago.

Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old mother and nurse, was declared brain-dead — meaning she is legally dead — in February, her mother, April Newkirk, told Atlanta TV station WXIA.

Newkirk said her daughter had intense headaches more than three months ago and went to Atlanta’s Northside Hospital, where she received medication and was released. The next morning, her boyfriend woke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was later declared brain-dead.

Newkirk said Smith is now 21 weeks pregnant. Removing breathing tubes and other life-saving devices would likely kill the fetus.


Neither hospital immediately responded to emails Thursday from The Associated Press.

Georgia’s abortion ban

Smith’s family says Emory doctors have told them they are not allowed to stop or remove the devices that are keeping her breathing because of a provision in state law that bans abortion after cardiac activity can be detected — generally around six weeks into pregnancy.

The law was adopted in 2019 but not enforced until after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, opening the door to state abortion bans. Georgia’s ban includes an exception if an abortion is necessary to maintain the life of the woman.


Smith’s family, including her five-year-old son, still visit her in the hospital.


Newkirk said doctors told the family that the fetus has fluid on the brain and that they’re concerned about his health.

“She’s pregnant with my grandson. But he may be blind, may not be able to walk, may not survive once he’s born,” Newkirk said. Newkirk has not commented on whether the family wants Smith removed from life support.

Who has the right to make these decisions?

Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, which is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s strict abortion law, said the situation is problematic.

“Her family deserved the right to have decision-making power about her medical decisions,” Simpson said in a statement. “Instead, they have endured over 90 days of retraumatization, expensive medical costs, and the cruelty of being unable to resolve and move toward healing.”


Lois Shepherd, a bioethicist and law professor at the University of Virginia, said she does not believe Georgia’s law requires life support in this case.

But she said whether a state could insist Smith remains on the breathing and other devices is uncertain since the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned all the parts of the Roe ruling, including the finding that fetuses do not have the rights of people.

“Pre-Dobbs, a fetus didn’t have any rights,” Shepherd said. “And the state’s interest in fetal life could not be so strong as to overcome other important rights, but now we don’t know.”

Georgia’s law confers personhood on a fetus. Those who favor personhood say fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born.


Georgia state Sen. Ed Setzler, a Republican who sponsored the 2019 law, said he supported Emory’s interpretation.

“I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child,” Setzler 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.”

Setzler said he believes it is sometimes acceptable to remove life support from someone who is brain dead, but said the law is “an appropriate check” because the mother is pregnant.

“I think there’s a valuable human life that we have an opportunity to save and I think it’s the right thing to save it,” he said. “To suggest otherwise is to declare the child as being other than human.”


Setzler said the woman’s relatives do have “good choices,” including keeping the child or offering it for adoption.

Abortion laws in other states

The situation echoes a case in Texas more than a decade ago when a brain-dead woman was kept on maintenance measures for about two months because she was pregnant. A judge eventually ruled that the hospital keeping her alive against her family’s wishes was misapplying state law, and life support was removed.

Twelve states are enforcing abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. Georgia is one of four with a ban that kicks in at or around six weeks into pregnancy — often before women realize they’re pregnant.

Last year, the Texas Supreme Court ruled unanimously against a group of women who challenged that state’s abortion ban, saying the exceptions were being interpreted so narrowly that they were denied abortion access as they dealt with serious pregnancy complications. This year, the state Senate has passed a bill that seeks to clarify when abortions are allowed.

South Dakota produced a video to inform doctors about when exceptions should apply. Abortion rights groups have blasted it.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in December over whether the federal law that requires hospitals to provide abortion in emergency medical situations should apply. A ruling is expected in coming months.

Georgia’s law confers personhood on a fetus. Those who favor personhood say fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born.
This is what happens when religion overrules science.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Case of brain-dead pregnant woman kept on life support in Georgia raises tricky questions
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Kate Brumback, Sudhin Thanawala And Geoff Mulvihill
Published May 16, 2025 • 5 minute read

ATLANTA (AP) — The case of a pregnant woman in Georgia who has been on life support since she was declared brain dead three months ago has given rise to complicated questions about fetal personhood and abortion laws.


Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old nurse and mother, was about two months pregnant on Feb. 19 when she was declared brain dead, according to an online fundraising page started by her mother. Doctors said Georgia’s strict anti-abortion law requires that she remain on life support until the fetus has developed enough to be delivered, her mother wrote.

The law, one of a wave of measures enacted in conservative states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, restricts abortion once cardiac activity is detected and gives personhood rights to a fetus.

Smith’s mother says it has left her family without a say in a difficult situation, and with her due date still months away, the family is left wondering whether the baby will be born with disabilities or can even survive. Some activists, many of them Black women like Smith, say it raises issues of racial equity.


What does the law say?
Emory Healthcare, which runs the hospital, has not explained how doctors decided to keep Smith on life support except to say in a statement they considered “Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.”

The state adopted a law in 2019 to ban abortion after cardiac activity can be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy, that came into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

That law does not explicitly address Smith’s situation, but allows abortion to preserve the life or physical health of the pregnant woman. Three other states have similar bans that kick in around the six-week mark and 12 bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

David S. Cohen, a professor at Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law in Philadelphia, said the hospital might be most concerned about part of the law that gives fetuses legal rights as “members of the species Homo sapiens.”


Cohen said Emory may therefore consider Smith and the fetus as two patients and that once Smith was on life support, they had a legal obligation to keep the fetus alive, even after she died.

“These are the kind of cases that law professors have been talking about for a long time when they talk about fetal personhood,” he said.


Personhood divide within anti-abortion movement
Anti-abortion groups are divided over whether they should support personhood provisions, which are on the books in at least 17 states, according to the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice.

Some argue that fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses should be considered people with the same rights as those already born. This personhood concept seeks to give them rights under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says a state can’t “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process or law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”


Some saw personhood as politically impractical, especially after personhood amendments to state constitutions were rejected by voters in Colorado, Mississippi and North Dakota between 2008 and 2014. Those who steered away sought laws and restrictions on abortion that stopped short of personhood, although they were often informed by the concept.

Personhood proponents argue this lacks moral clarity. Some personhood proponents have been sidelined in national anti-abortion groups; the National Right to Life Committee cut ties with its Georgia Right to Life affiliate in 2014 after the state wing opposed bills that restricted abortion but allowed exceptions for rape and incest.

Unequal access to care for Black women

The Associated Press has not been able to reach Smith’s mother, April Newkirk. But Newkirk told Atlanta TV station WXIA that her daughter went to a hospital complaining of headaches and was given medication and released. Then, her boyfriend awoke to her gasping for air and called 911. Emory University Hospital determined she had blood clots in her brain and she was declared brain dead.

It’s not clear what Smith said when she went to the hospital or whether the care she was given was standard for her symptoms. But Black women often complain their pain isn’t taken seriously, and an Associated Press investigation found that health outcomes for Black women are worse because of circumstances linked to racism and unequal access to care.


Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s abortion law, said: “Black women must be trusted when it comes to our health care decisions.”

“Like so many Black women, Adriana spoke up for herself. She expressed what she felt in her body, and as a health care provider, she knew how to navigate the medical system,” Simpson said, noting that by the time Smith was diagnosed “it was already too late.”

It’s unclear whether the clots in Smith’s brain were related to her pregnancy.

But her situation is undoubtedly alarming for those seeking solutions to disparities in the maternal mortality rate among Black women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women had a mortality rate of 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023. That’s more than three times the rate for white women, and it is higher than the rates for Hispanic and Asian women.


What is Smith’s current situation?
While Smith is on a ventilator and likely other life-support devices, being declared brain dead means she is dead.

Some experts refer to “life support” as “maintenance measures,” “organ support” or “somatic support,” which relates to the body as distinct from the mind.

Emory has not made public what is being done to allow Smith’s fetus to continue to develop.

In another case in Florida, doctors successfully delivered the baby of a 31-year-old woman who was declared brain-dead while 22 weeks pregnant, but not without weeks of sustained monitoring, testing and medical care. The woman’s family wanted to keep the fetus, physicians with the University of Florida College of Medicine said in a 2023 paper.


On her first day of admission, doctors administered hormones to raise her blood pressure and placed a feeding tube. After she was transferred to an intensive care unit, an obstetric nurse stayed by her bedside continuously to monitor the fetus’ heart rate and movements.

She was on a ventilator, regularly received steroids and hormones, and needed multiple antibiotics to treat pneumonia. Her medical team encompassed multiple specialties: obstetrics, neonatology, radiology and endocrinology.

Doctors performed surgery to remove the fetus at 33 weeks when its heart rate fell, and the baby appeared to be in good health at birth.

“We don’t have great science to guide clinical decision making in these cases,” said Dr. Kavita Arora, an obstetrician and gynecologist in North Carolina who raised concerns about the effect of prolonged ventilator use on a fetus. “There simply aren’t a lot of cases like this.”

The 2023 paper warned that “costs should not be underestimated.”

While it is unclear how much it will cost to keep Smith on life support until the fetus can be delivered, or who will be responsible for that cost, her mother’s GoFundMe page mentions Smith’s 7-year-old son and notes that the baby could have significant disabilities as it aims to raise $275,000.
 
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Taxslave2

House Member
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WTF are you babbling about? Religion or science was never mentioned.
These anti abortion laws are brought about by religious fanatics. As well as not believing in science, they do not believe in liberty or personal choice. These religious crusaders should have to pay for the medical care for not just the pregnant woman, but lifetime care for the potential baby, should it survive. Just because modern medicine is capable of certain procedures does not necessarily mean they are desirable, or even wise.
Would you keep a cow alive like this just because you want the calf?
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
116,457
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Low Earth Orbit
These anti abortion laws are brought about by religious fanatics. As well as not believing in science, they do not believe in liberty or personal choice. These religious crusaders should have to pay for the medical care for not just the pregnant woman, but lifetime care for the potential baby, should it survive. Just because modern medicine is capable of certain procedures does not necessarily mean they are desirable, or even wise.
Would you keep a cow alive like this just because you want the calf?
Only religious people have morals?
 

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
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These anti abortion laws are brought about by religious fanatics. As well as not believing in science, they do not believe in liberty or personal choice. These religious crusaders should have to pay for the medical care for not just the pregnant woman, but lifetime care for the potential baby, should it survive. Just because modern medicine is capable of certain procedures does not necessarily mean they are desirable, or even wise.
Would you keep a cow alive like this just because you want the calf?
Yes let’s just allow murder up to the first birthday . Gives the parents the opportunity to test drive the product . Maybe even allow trade ins .
 
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