By Compassion & Choices and If/When/How
A Georgia woman, Adriana Smith, has been declared brain dead for more than 90 days, but her family is being forced to keep her artificially alive because she’s pregnant. Ms. Smith was just nine weeks into her pregnancy when she was forced onto life support. Under Georgia law, a person who has been declared brain dead is legally dead.
“Denying anyone the ability to make end-of-life healthcare decisions consistent with their deeply held beliefs is offensive,” said Kevin Díaz, Interim President and CEO for Compassion & Choices. “Forcing invasive medical interventions on a person who is brain dead solely because they are pregnant, without their consent, without regard for their family, and in defiance of established medical understanding about fetal viability, is a grave violation of their rights and human dignity.”
In 2021 a federal judge ruled in a landmark case brought by Compassion & Choices, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, and Legal Voice, Almerico v. Denney, that an Idaho law that state officials claimed denied the right of incapacitated pregnant people to make healthcare decisions was unconstitutional. The federal court in that case ruled that end-of-life care decisions should not be disregarded simply because an individual is pregnant, emphasizing that forcing life-sustaining treatment on a pregnant individual is fundamentally distinct from regulating abortion.
The Idaho Court ruled that a law that could have forced life support on pregnant individuals against their expressed decisions “completely denies the choices of women, regardless of the viability of the fetus, and forces medical treatment on them.”
“Everyone deserves to be able to make decisions about their lives and their bodies without worrying that the state is going to interfere and strip them of their dignity,” said Farah Diaz-Tello, Senior Counsel and Legal Director for If/When/How. “This heartbreaking situation is an example of the ways Georgia is denying Black people control of their bodies when they are pregnant, while doing little to ensure that they have safe and healthy pregnancies.”
“This is fundamentally about end-of-life decision making,” said Charmaine Manansala, Chief Advocacy Officer for Compassion & Choices. “Adriana Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, must be allowed to make this decision consistent with what her daughter would have wanted without outside interference.”
A Texas Court previously ruled in the case of Marlise Muñoz, whose family experienced weeks of trauma while her body was kept on life support against her expressed decisions to gestate her pregnancy, that the State’s pregnancy exclusion did not apply to a person who is dead.
“An individual who has been medically determined to be brain dead is legally dead,” added Jess Pezley, Senior Staff Attorney with Compassion & Choices. “Accordingly, Georgia’s abortion restrictions do not apply here. Ms. Smith’s family should be able to give their loved one the end-of-life care she would have wanted.”