Olivia Rodrigo is speaking out against Georgia’s abortion law after the tragic case of Adriana Smith. A 31-year-old nurse from Atlanta was kept on life support for months despite being declared brain-dead in February 2025, because she was nine weeks pregnant.
Olivia Rodrigo, never shy about her advocacy for women’s rights, voiced her outrage on Instagram. “So disgusting and so disturbing. Adriana Smith deserved better,” said the singer on her Instagram story.
Her post went viral, igniting renewed outrage among reproductive rights advocates and everyday citizens alike.
Draconian Law
Georgia law defines any fetus with a detectable heartbeat as a legal person, leaving doctors with no choice but to sustain Smith’s body solely for the pregnancy. Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, is left to grieve a daughter who was denied a peaceful death.
Doctors admitted Smith to the hospital for severe headaches and initially sent her home with medication. The next day, she returned, gasping for air. Blood clots had formed in her brain, and she was declared brain-dead soon after.
But Emory University Hospital, citing Georgia’s abortion ban, signed into law in 2019 and enforced after the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022, refused to withdraw life support. The law bans abortion after about six weeks and makes no exceptions, even when the pregnant person is already dead, as in Smith’s case.
“The decision should have been ours,” Newkirk said. “This wasn’t politics. This was a human being, our daughter, treated like an incubator.”
A Family in Limbo
Doctors delivered Smith’s baby, named Chance, via emergency C-section on June 13. Weighing just 538 grams, he remains in the NICU with a fragile prognosis. Doctors have warned of possible lifelong complications, including blindness and mobility impairments.
Doctors are now taking Smith off life support, months after declaring her legally dead.
