But Georgia’s controversial “heartbeat bill”, which restricts abortion after approximately six weeks, forced a painful delay.
Because Adriana was pregnant, hospital administrators and doctors claimed they were legally obligated to keep her body alive using machines, despite her irreversible condition.
“She’s been breathing through machines for more than 90 days,” Newkirk said. “It’s torture for me. I see my daughter breathing, on a ventilator — but she’s not there. And I’m touching her. Her son… I bring him to see her.”
Her grandson, just a young child, still believes his mother is “just sleeping.”
The emotional toll on the family is compounded by the lack of legal power to make medical decisions, even though Adriana is legally brain dead.
Georgia law allows abortion only under limited exceptions — in a “medical emergency” or when the fetus is declared non-viable.
However, since Adriana is already brain dead, her condition no longer qualifies as a “medical emergency” under the law, according to doctors.
