After Tracii gets to work, she starts each shift with a prayer. As the security guard for an unnamed abortion clinic in Atlanta, she relies on her faith and her wits as she scans the parking lot for patients and protestors in the darkness of the early morning hours. She stays on high alert until […]
abortion
Posted inMaternal Health
Proposed ‘Adriana’s Law’ Would Override Georgia’s Abortion Ban
Over the weekend, 30-year-old Adriana Smith was finally laid to rest after months on life support. Family and friends celebrated the young mother’s life at Fairfield Baptist Church in Lithonia by sharing memories of Smith’s kind spirit, while also expressing concerns about the circumstances surrounding her medical care. “It’s awful what’s happened to this family,” […]
Posted inHealth, Maternal Health, Politics & Policy
Mourners Attend Adriana Smith’s Funeral and Call Out Georgia Abortion Ban
After several months of controversy, the brain-dead woman, who leaves behind two children, was laid to rest in Lithonia.
Posted inHealth, Politics & Policy
Adriana Smith’s Family Plans to Livestream Her Funeral
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 […]
Posted inHealth, Maternal Health, Politics & Policy
Baby Born to Brain-Dead Woman Spurs Nikema Williams’ Push against Abortion Law
Adriana Smith, the Georgia woman declared brain-dead in February and then kept on life support, has a new son. Chance, weighing just 1 pound and 13 ounces, arrived June 13. Smith’s family announced she was taken off life support on Tuesday. In the wake of the controversy surrounding Smith’s complex situation, U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, State Politics
Keisha Lance Bottoms Interview: ‘I’m Standing Up and I’m Fighting Back’
When Keisha Lance Bottoms first ran for mayor of Atlanta in 2018, part of her campaign’s appeal was that she was deeply rooted in Black Atlanta. Supporters loved to wear T-shirts emblazoned with “My mayor’s name is Keisha” from the barbershop to the neighborhood BBQ. Proudly repping the city’s southwest side, she declared victory after […]
Posted inHealth, Maternal Health
She Is Medically Brain Dead. Georgia’s Abortion Law Is Keeping Her Body Alive.
In Georgia, a Black pregnant woman declared brain dead after a medical emergency is being kept on life support for three months so that her fetus can develop — a course of action over which her family says they have been given no choice because of the state’s strict anti-abortion law. According to the Associated […]
Posted inMaternal Health, Reproductive Health
Her Daughter Died After a Fatal Delay in Reproductive Care. Now, She’s Fighting for Justice.
When Shanette Williams speaks publicly, she holds the obituary of her 28-year-old daughter, Amber Nicole Thurman, in her hands. She says it gives her comfort and the strength to continue to tell the story of how a Georgia hospital allowed her daughter to die unnecessarily. Williams is a woman who rarely bows her head, unless […]
Posted inCourts, Mental Health, Reproductive Health
Georgia Is One of the Most Unsafe States to Give Birth. Abortion Limits Make It Worse.
In spite of recent reporting that directly links Georgia’s abortion restriction with the deaths of two Black women, the state Supreme Court’s decision earlier this month to temporarily reinstate the law while an appeal is in progress did not surprise leaders at the forefront of the state’s reproductive justice movement. Last month, ProPublica reported on […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
How Two Black Women’s ‘Preventable’ Deaths Put Abortion on the Ballot in Georgia
Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, two Black women who died after trying home abortions, aren’t the only ones who have suffered due to Georgia’s abortion restriction law, according to Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, an Atlanta-based reproductive justice group. “There are so many other people … that have come up to me directly, […]