Family of woman who carried baby while brain dead give heartbreaking update on child

The family of Adriana Smith, a woman who carried a baby while brain dead, has given a heartbreaking update on her child.

Smith, an Atlanta nurse and mother, was eight weeks pregnant with her second child when she suffered a catastrophic stroke in February at the age of 30.

Despite the family’s wishes, Smith was kept alive until doctors delivered her son, Chance, by emergency C-section in June.

“It’s not getting any better day by day,” Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, told local outlet 11Alive of her grief in a recent interview.

While the family, including Smith’s 7-year-old son Chase, struggles with the loss of Smith, baby Chance is still fighting for his life.

Chance was born prematurely, weighing about 1 pound and 13 ounces. Nearly two months later he now weighs just under five pounds.

“His weight is gradually picking up, but the breathing is what we’re concerned with,” Newkirk said.

Newkirk said he’s “making a little bit of progress, but still some things to do.”

The family is hoping he will be able to leave the hospital by late September or October.

Smith’s story gained national attention, adding to the conversation about abortion rights in the country. The brain dead mother was left on life support because of Georgia’s LIFE Act, the family had said.

The state law bans most abortions after the detection of fetal cardiac activity, which can occur as early as six weeks of pregnancy.

But Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s Office denied the LIFE Act requires doctors to keep patients on life support after they are declared brain dead.

“There is nothing in the LIFE act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,” Carr’s office said in a statement, according to reports in May.

Newkirk is now fighting to get rid of Georgia’s abortion law.

“I want them to know that this didn’t have to happen,” Newkirk said. “Women have rights; It’s their body.”