Adriana Smith, the pregnant Georgia woman declared brain-dead back in February, was taken off life support after delivering her son Chance.
Now the family is planning to livestream her funeral on Youtube.
Smith’s story made headlines around the country when her family revealed Emory University Hospital was keeping her on life support because doctors discovered she was pregnant.
Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, gave an update to reporters on her grandson’s condition after he was delivered by emergency cesarean section June 13.
“He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He’s here now,” she said.
Chance, weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces, was born prematurely at just over six months, and remains in the hospital’s NICU. Smith was removed from life support on June 17.
According to a listing on a Levett Funeral Home’s website, the Celebration of Life service will be held Saturday at noon at Fairfield Baptist Church in Lithonia. Following the service, she will then be interned at Hillandale Memorial Gardens, also in Lithonia.
On Feb. 9, Smith, then 31, began to complain about headaches. She went to two different hospitals for help, and was sent home with medication. According to her family’s GoFundMe page, the hospitals did not examine her or run any tests.
A week later, she was found unresponsive at home and on Feb. 19, Smith was officially declared brain-dead.
Emory officials told her family she could not be removed from life support because she was pregnant, and it would violate Georgia law.
Smith, who also has a 7-year-old child, was six weeks pregnant at the time, just past the cutoff established by Georgia’s LIFE ACT, which bans abortions once fetal cardiac activity can be detected — usually around six weeks.
In the wake of the controversy surrounding Smith’s complex situation, U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams of Atlanta, along with U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sara Jacobs of California, introduced a congressional resolution last week urging the government to clarify how anti-abortion and fetal personhood laws should be interpreted by medical professionals.
“Adriana Smith deserved better at every point of this tragedy. Her family, along with baby Chance, remain in my family’s prayers as they navigate life after this unimaginably devastating situation that Georgia’s laws imposed on them,” said Williams in a statement.
Staff writers Alyssa Johnson and Madeline Thigpen contributed to this report.
