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Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old Georgia mother and nurse, was declared brain dead more than 90
days ago and is reportedly being kept on life support because she is pregnant.
A Message from Our Founder:
At SisterLove, when we say, “Trust Black Women”, we mean to listen and heed the voice of Black women when they say there is something wrong in their bodies, especially during pregnancy. All Georgians must have the unfettered protection of their rights to decide what is done with and to their bodies in life and in death, and quality services to meet their healthcare needs. Denying care, delaying care or dismissing patients before providing the full spectrum of healthcare they may need is unacceptable and is a violation of human rights.
Adriana Smith and her family deserve policies that work for them and other families in their situation, and they should expect to be able to make decisions with dignity and respect. Reproductive justice is about protecting the human rights, dignity and well-being of all people, especially those who may be or become pregnant. The abortion ban in the State of Georgia is a prime example of what unforeseen circumstances these types of restrictions can yield, and Black women are dying because of it. It should be repealed now.
When Care Is Denied: Another Preventable Death
Smith’s experience of reproductive injustice began with a preventable death. In February, Smith, who was roughly 9 weeks pregnant, visited the hospital with her partner because she had intense headaches. After receiving inadequate care, she was told by medical staff to go home despite her partner's request to “please keep her.” The next morning, Smith was rushed to the hospital when her partner found her gasping for air and gargling in her sleep. Doctors found multiple blood clots in her brain, however, by then it was too late, and Smith was declared brain dead.
As a nurse, Smith knew the ins and outs of the medical system, and even with her partner advocating for her, it was not enough. Smith deserved to be listened to; she deserved to be trusted. Her death could have been prevented. #TrustBlackWomen #BlackMamasMatter #ListenToBlackWomen
The Human Rights Toll of Restrictive Reproductive Health Laws
Smith’s plight painfully reminds us of the human rights toll that restrictive reproductive health policies have on our communities by failing to consider the holistic needs and rights of individuals and their families. In Georgia, our communities continue to bear the human cost of the state's dehumanizing abortion ban with limited, ambiguous, and impracticable exceptions. We have seen time and time again that when states criminalize reproductive care, pregnant persons are stripped of their rights, personal bodily autonomy, and dignity.
These consequences particularly affect Black birthing people, and communities of color who already face unacceptable and alarming health disparities. We know that this situation is not an isolated incident, and it reflects a broader pattern where Black women, specifically in states in the South with restrictive reproductive health policies, face higher maternal mortality rates and systemic barriers to equitable care. As stated by Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA), a powerful network of Black women-led and Black-led, birth and reproductive justice organizations, including SisterLove, working across the full spectrum of maternal and reproductive health: “This is not care. This is a tragic reminder of how harmful policies can strip away reproductive autonomy - even in death.” - Black Mamas Matter Alliance, BLACKMAMASMATTER.ORG.
SisterLove, an organization deeply rooted in reproductive justice, human rights and Black feminist theory, stands in solidarity with Adriana Smith’s family and all of those impacted by detrimental, ambiguous, and unjust reproductive health policies. SisterLove believes in a world where all individuals have the authority to make the most informed decisions about their health and bodies irrespective of government intrusion. SisterLove affirms its demand for policies that respect and uphold the human dignity and autonomy of all individuals, particularly those from underserved and vulnerable populations. We will continue to join in this fight to live in a world where everyone has the right to personal bodily autonomy, to decide whether to have children, and to parent in safe and sustainable communities. Only then can reproductive justice truly be realized, and liberation becomes more possible. #OurBodiesBelongToUs
What is Reproductive Justice?
Reproductive justice was coined in 1994 by a group of Black women activists who recognized that the traditional reproductive rights framework failed to meet the needs of Black women, women of color, and other marginalized communities by ignoring their lived experience and the history of systemic inequalities that have long impacted their reproductive lives. Reproductive justice emphasizes the right of individuals to have children, not have children, parent in safe and sustainable communities, and sustain personal bodily autonomy. Core to the reproductive justice framework is the affirmation that abortion access is essential to maternal health and well-being – and abortion care is a human right. This right is only truly realized when all women, girls, and gender expansive people have full autonomy over their bodies – equipped with the rights, resources, and access to make the most informed decisions freely, without interference, fear, or confusion. Georgia’s Abortion Ban Is Failing Everyone.
I. A Ban Built on Lies: Two Weeks to Decide
Georgia’s abortion ban is effectively a 2-week ban, not a 6-week one, since most people don’t know they’re pregnant until they’ve missed their period—typically around 4 weeks after their last menstrual period. At which point, they have merely two weeks to determine their choice on how to move through their pregnancy. If someone chooses not to continue the pregnancy, the timeline is accelerated by Georgia’s abortion ban – based on a so-called “detectable human heartbeat” provision which is medically misleading as around six weeks of gestation, what is “detected” is electrical activity or impulses from a developing cardiac tube, not a functioning heart.
Georgia’s abortion ban is effectively a 2-week ban, not a 6-week one, since most people don’t
know they’re pregnant until they’ve missed their period—typically around 4 weeks after their
last menstrual period. At which point, they have merely two weeks to determine their choice on
how to move through their pregnancy.
If someone chooses not to continue the pregnancy, the timeline is accelerated by Georgia’s
abortion ban – based on a so-called “detectable human heartbeat” provision which is medically
misleading as around six weeks of gestation, what is “detected” is electrical activity or impulses
from a developing cardiac tube, not a functioning heart.
II. Pregnancy Criminalization, Surveillance, and Confusion
The language of fetal personhood under Georgia’s abortion law, which redefines a “natural person” to include a fetus, creates legal uncertainty and medical confusion that delays care and prevents healthcare providers from delivering quality, dignified treatment to pregnant individuals. Further, leading to the criminalization and surveillance of pregnant persons for acts related to their pregnancies, including miscarriage, or stillbirth.
III. The Deadly Cost of Legal Ambiguity
Georgia’s abortion ban’s exceptions which include rape, incest, life endangerment, or fatal fetal anomaly, create confusion when providers attempt to deliver, and pregnant persons seek, quality care. Such exceptions have already had devastating effects on pregnant persons in the state, including death. In 2022, Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which investigates and determines causes of pregnancy-related deaths, determined that two young Black mothers, Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, died because of Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, and that their deaths were preventable.
According to ProPublica, Amber Thurman lost her life after doctors at Piedmont-Henry Hospital refused to give her a routine dilation and curettage procedure for 20 hours during her miscarriage. When doctors finally intervened, it was too late because they feared Georgia’s abortion ban which imposes on them both a felony conviction and termination of their medical license. Further, doctors were unclear at which point they could legally intervene because of the language ambiguities in Georgia’s abortion ban. Candi Miller suffered from lupus, diabetes, and hypertension.
Due to these pre-existing and chronic health conditions, Candi’s health and pregnancy were already in jeopardy when she tried to conduct a self-managed abortion procedure. Fearing Georgia’s abortion law and felony prison sentence, Candi did not go to the doctor and ultimately died. Both women were prevented from receiving the care that they needed and deserved. At a time when Black women are dying from pregnancy-related causes at nearly three times the rate of white women, when Black girls face unintended pregnancies at more than double the rate of white teens, when nearly half of Georgia’s counties are reproductive care deserts, and when communities of color are disproportionately burdened by poverty, food insecurity, and health inequity—these injustices are not coincidences.
They are the result of systemic neglect, and they demand urgent action. SisterLove stands with millions of others when we say abortion bans are a party mandate that does not consider the life of the pregnant person. Every individual should have the right and ability to make the most informed decisions about their reproductive and maternal health and well-being. Our bodies are not property of the state, and we do not exist to serve its mandate.
Resources:
• Learn more about the Reproductive Freedom Act:
http://tinyurl.com/RFAaction
• Find support in advocating for your reproductive health and rights:
http://tinyurl.com/pregnantinGA
• Fundraising request for Listserv
In Solidarity,
Grabiela Hernandez, J.D.
Lead Movement Lawyer
Justice, Law, and Policy Project (JLPP)
SisterLove, Inc.
May 14, 2025
Sources:I. Vanessa Etienne, People, “Mother Forced to Keep Pregnant Daughter Alive After She’s
Declared Brain Dead Due to Abortion Ban: ‘It’s Torture,” (May 15, 2025),
https://people.com/pregnant-woman-declared-brain-dead-kept-alive-due-to-abortion-ban-
11734676
II. WXIA, CNN Newsource, Fox8Live, “Woman Declared Brain Dead Being Kept Alive to
Continue Pregnancy Under State Law, Family Says,” (May 15, 2025),
https://www.fox8live.com/2025/05/15/woman-declared-brain-dead-being-kept-alive-
continue-pregnancy-under-state-law-family-says/
III. Taylor Renouf, PerthNow, “Atlanta Woman Adriana Smith Kept Alive Despite Being
Declared Brain Dead Due to Abortion Ban,” (May 15, 2025),
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/world/atlanta-woman-adriana-smith-kept-alive-despite-
being-declared-brain-dead-due-to-abortion-ban-c-18703377
