LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A woman in Georgia has been declared brain dead, but she's being kept on life support because she's pregnant. The case is raising complicated legal questions about restrictive abortion laws in Georgia and other states. WABE's Sam Gringlas has been following the story and joins us from Atlanta. Good morning, Sam.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: Hey, Leila.
FADEL: So, Sam, just tell me more about this case.
GRINGLAS: Adriana Smith was about nine weeks pregnant in February when doctors declared her brain dead. The 30-year-old nurse and mom had suffered a medical emergency. But Smith's family says doctors at Emory University Hospital have been keeping her organs functioning until the fetus can be delivered. They're citing Georgia's law, banning most abortions after roughly six weeks. Smith's mother, April Newkirk, spoke to TV station WXIA.
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APRIL NEWKIRK: My grandson may be blind, may not be able to walk. We don't know if he'll live once she has him. And I'm not saying that we would have chose to terminate her pregnancy. What I'm saying is we should have had a choice.
FADEL: So this mother doesn't get to make the choice about the fate of her daughter and her daughter's unborn child, and it's been three months now because of what the hospital has decided. Is it clear that Georgia's abortion law would prevent the hospital from taking Smith off life support? Is it part of the law?
GRINGLAS: Well, after this case became public, a Democratic state senator wrote to Georgia's Republican attorney general, Chris Carr, asking for clarity here. And his office responded, saying there's nothing in Georgia's abortion law that requires a woman be kept on life support after brain death. That would be because removing life support is not an action done for the purpose of terminating a pregnancy. Now, Emory Healthcare seems to have come to a different conclusion. The hospital has not addressed the AG's legal opinion, but did release a statement last week saying treatment decisions are based on, quote, "consensus from clinical experts, medical literature, and legal guidance in compliance with Georgia's abortion laws and all other applicable laws."
FADEL: OK. Then why the disconnect between the AG and the hospital?
GRINGLAS: Well, I put that question to University of California, Davis law professor Mary Ziegler. She pointed to two Georgia women whose deaths drew national attention last year. ProPublica reported that a state panel ruled the deaths preventable, and likely the result of doctors being slow or unwilling to provide abortion care because of Georgia's law. Ziegler told me that many medical providers in states with restrictive abortion laws have become a lot more risk-averse. You know, running afoul of the law can carry criminal penalties.
MARY ZIEGLER: This scenario in Georgia right now is an example of that, where you have the attorney general saying, no problem, go ahead. And you're having doctors and their lawyers reading the law and saying, we're not so sure.
GRINGLAS: Ziegler says one reason the hospital may have been not so sure in this case at Emory is because of a provision in Georgia's abortion law known as fetal personhood.
FADEL: Fetal personhood - what's that?
GRINGLAS: Fetal personhood is the idea that embryos and fetuses are people and have legal rights. In Georgia, for example, people can claim a fetus as a dependent on state taxes. Ziegler told me establishing fetal personhood has long been a goal of the antiabortion movement. And now that Roe v. Wade has been struck down, some of these personhood laws are being enforced. And that has consequences, like with this Georgia case and potentially in other areas, like in vitro fertilization or even the census. And as these cases result in legal challenges, that could bring the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, in Georgia, Adriana Smith remains on life support at Emory University Hospital.
FADEL: WABE's Sam Gringlas. Thank you, Sam.
GRINGLAS: Thanks, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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