Her Body Was Not the State’s to Use: The Case of Adriana Smith and the Fight for Autonomy After Death

A young mother dies. The state keeps her body alive. Not to save her—but to use her.

That’s not a dystopian plot. That’s Georgia in 2025.

Adriana Smith was a 30-year-old nurse, a mother of two, and newly pregnant with her third child when she collapsed from a massive brain hemorrhage.

She was declared brain dead—legally, medically dead. But because she was about eight weeks pregnant, the hospital kept her on life support.

Her body was no longer hers. It belonged to the law.

Why I Hesitated to Speak—And Why I Had To

When I first read Adriana’s story, I felt physically ill. The nausea hit first, then an overwhelming wave of sadness. I had to close the article and sit in silence.

Part of the grief was personal. My husband and I are considering having a fourth child. I’m turning 40 this year, which makes every decision more weighty. We’ve been blessed with three healthy children. But with age, risks increase—physically, emotionally, economically.
So yes, I believe deeply in the value of unborn life. But I also believe that life—real life—includes agency, consent, and dignity.
And what happened to Adriana was the opposite of that.

This Wasn’t Medicine. It Was a Hijacking.

Let’s walk through the facts:

• Adriana Smith was declared brain dead. That’s not a coma. That’s not a vegetative state. That is the legal definition of death.

• She was 8 weeks pregnant at the time—a point at which survival outside the womb is impossible.

• Her family says they were not given a choice. The hospital maintained life support, citing the state’s abortion ban and the legal ambiguity surrounding fetal personhood.

• At 22 weeks, the fetus—now named Chance—was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, or fluid in the brain, a serious neurological condition that can lead to lifelong disability or death.

This was not care. This was control. The state took a dead woman’s body and repurposed it.
Her death became a battleground for ideology.

Respect for Life Must Include Respect for Death
As someone who has worked in hospitals and stood beside families during the worst days of their lives, I cannot overstate this: being kept on life support when there is no chance of recovery is not peaceful. It is traumatic.
The machines are loud. The tubes are invasive. The smells linger in your clothes and hair. Families visit day after day, hoping for signs that will never come. Medical teams go through the motions. Everyone knows—but no one says it out loud: this person is already gone.
Forcing a family to endure that, against their will, in service of a pregnancy that may not survive, is not medical care. It is torture—emotional, spiritual, and financial.
We are not honoring life when we desecrate death.

What This Case Reveals About Post-Roe America
Adriana’s case is not an outlier—it is a crystal-clear warning about what happens when:

• Fetal personhood is elevated above maternal autonomy

• Legal gray zones force hospitals to prioritize liability over ethics

• Medical decisions are dictated not by clinical judgment or family wishes, but by state pressure

  
  This is the America we’re living in post-Roe.
  And it’s not just about abortion anymore.
  It’s about who owns your body—even after you die.
  
  What Every Pregnant Person (and Their Loved Ones) Must Do Now
  This isn’t theoretical. This could happen to you, your partner, your daughter, your best friend. So here’s what you can do today:

  Talk to Your Family About End-of-Life Wishes—Specifically Around Pregnancy

• Too many people assume their loved ones know what they’d want. They don’t. Not in a crisis.

• Say it out loud: “If I’m brain dead, I do not want to be kept on machines just because I’m pregnant.”

• Be clear about how long you’d want life support maintained (if at all).

• Let them know what quality of life means to you—what’s worth continuing, and what’s not.

These are hard conversations. But they are acts of love.

Create a Pregnancy-Specific Advance Directive or Living Will

In many states, your advance directive becomes legally void if you are pregnant.
Yes, you read that right. If you’ve filled out paperwork saying you don’t want to be on life support—but you’re pregnant—some states will ignore it.
What you can do:

• Look up your state’s laws using resources like the Pregnancy and Advance Directives report by the Center for Women Policy Studies.

• Talk to an attorney or legal aid clinic about creating an addendum to your directive that explicitly names your wishes if pregnant.

• Keep a copy of your directive on file with your OB, primary care doctor, and closest family members.

Ask Your Hospital What Their Policy Is

Don’t wait until you’re in crisis. Ask now:

• “If I were declared brain dead while pregnant, what would your policy be?”

• “Would my advance directive still be followed?”

• “Would my family be consulted before continuing life support?”

  You deserve to know what kind of institution you’re trusting with your body and your baby.

Support Organizations Fighting for Reproductive Justice

We work with SisterSong, a Black-women-led reproductive justice organization based in Georgia. They are fighting battles like Adriana’s every day—through policy, advocacy, and direct support.
Other organizations to support include:

• If/When/How – focused on reproductive legal defense

• National Advocates for Pregnant Women

• Center for Reproductive Rights

Even $5 helps keep these groups going.

Share Adriana’s Story—And Don’t Look Away

This is not a one-off tragedy. This is the logical outcome of a legal regime that sees women as vessels

We have to talk about it. We have to share it.
Because the only thing more dangerous than state violence is silence in the face of it.

What My Faith Teaches Me About This Moment
I want to say something plainly:
I am a practicing Roman Catholic.
My children are in Catholic school. I pray regularly. I’ve spoken to priests. I have sat with the abortion debate—not just as a clinician or mother—but as a woman of faith.
This is not something I take lightly.
I understand the moral weight of pregnancy, the gravity of life and death, and the theological reverence for the unborn. I believe that life is sacred. I believe that we are made in the image of God.

But let me be just as clear: what happened to Adriana Smith has nothing to do with God.

It has nothing to do with Jesus. It does not resemble Christian teaching in any recognizable form.