Justice for Adriana Smith - Poster of the Week
- politicalgraphics
- May 30
- 3 min read
Forced Pregnancy is
State-Sanctioned Torture
Caitlin Blunnie
Instagram: @liberaljane
Digital artwork, 2025
Justice for Adriana Smith
Caitlin Blunnie
Instagram: @liberaljane
Digital artwork, 2025
After suffering a medical emergency, Adriana Smith, a 30 year old Black mother, was declared brain-dead. At the time, Smith was 9 weeks pregnant and has now been on life-support for over 90 days against her family’s wishes because of Georgia’s anti-abortion law. This law, known as the LIFE Act states that “no abortion shall be performed if the unborn child has a detectable human heartbeat.”
Smith's family have been stripped of their medical decision-making rights rights as next of kin. Instead, Emory University Hospital doctors and lawyers have chosen to keep Smith’s body functioning with life support based on their interpretation of the LIFE Act. Supporters of the bill, like Republican Senator Ed Setzler, believe that it is appropriate for the medical team to do everything they can to save the fetus in Smith’s case. The office of Georgia's Attorney General, Chris Carr, released a statement on the matter; the state's anti-abortion law does not require doctors to keep women alive on life support after being declared brain-dead since this action is not done with the intended purpose of terminating the pregnancy.
It is unethical to force a brain-dead woman's body to act as an incubator for a fetus, especially when she is unable to make those decisions for herself. Smith’s mother shared that the medical team does not know whether the fetus will even live once it is delivered. A GoFundMe has also been set up to help cover the cost of hospital bills and support the unborn fetus who is expected to be born with disabilities.
Georgia is a distinctly dangerous place for pregnant Black women. The maternal mortality rates in Georgia are the seventh highest in the country and disproportionately affect Black women. Black birthing people more than double the rate of pregnancy-related deaths in comparison to their white or Hispanic counterparts according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Contributing factors include biased and discriminatory treatment from healthcare providers, limited access to quality care, and broader social and economic inequities that are rooted in systemic racism. Unfortunately, many of these maternal deaths are preventable. Georgia is considered a maternal health desert since nearly half of the counties do not have access to OBGYNs and the state has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This leaves thousands of people without access to basic healthcare needs including receiving adequate reproductive healthcare.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade and escalating abortion restrictions continue to undermine access to equitable quality care such as miscarriage management, early detection of pregnancy complications, and essential early pregnancy care, especially for Black women. The fight for reproductive rights and bodily autonomy for Black women in the U.S. is not new. We must continue to fight for their bodily autonomy! Adriana Smith deserves justice!
References:
Ways to help:
Comments