ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The baby of Adriana Smith, a Georgia woman whose body was kept on life support for months so her son could be born, is still in the NICU.

In a Nov. 24 GoFundMe post, April Newkirk, Smith’s mother, said she’s feeling “very down” during the holiday season. Her grandson, Chance, now weighs 11 pounds and will be moved to a different hospital for better help with his health problems.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Funeral held for metro Atlanta mother who spent months on life support

Chance was delivered via an emergency C-section on June 13. Coming into the world at about 25 weeks of gestation, he weighed just 1 pound, 13 ounces.

In a previous update, Newkirk said Chance’s lungs are underdeveloped, so he’ll be in the NICU until his breathing improves.

Newkirk thanked the public for their support and asked for more prayers.

“God has the final say so,” she wrote.

Earlier this year, Smith, a nurse at Emory University Hospital, went to two medical facilities for a severe headache. She was given medication but never tested, her family said.

A few days later, Smith was found unresponsive and rushed to the hospital. Doctors discovered blood clots in her brain and declared her brain dead on Feb. 19.

About eight weeks pregnant, Smith’s family said she was kept on life support to comply with Georgia’s Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, which bans abortions after six weeks.

The case gained national attention, sparking debates about restrictive abortion laws in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned in 2022.

Emory Healthcare, which runs the hospital Smith was in, has not explained how doctors decided to keep Smith on life support except to say in a statement they considered “Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.”

However, a statement from Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office seemingly contradicted what the Smith family was told.

“There is nothing in the LIFE Act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,” the office said. “Removing life support is not an action ‘with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy.’”

Smith was taken off life support on June 17. She leaves behind another 7-year-old son.

MORE COVERAGE:

Brain-dead Georgia woman taken off life support after delivering baby, family says

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Family of pregnant woman says she’s being kept on life support to comply with Georgia’s abortion ban

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