Women in the US been downgraded

I don't know if the pregnancy caused the blood clots but that is a common cause of death in childbirth. If she were in another country, she probably would have been taken care of properly. In the US, a lot of black women die in pregnancy and childbirth - even nurses and doctors. It is more complicated than genetics. It is partly to do with unconscious biases among medical teams and it also encompasses the stress of living in the US which already has a high infant mortality rate for all women.

How do we know that a strangulation did not happen? Where is the boyfriend now?

Oreo

I honestly don’t know how I would have reacted as the Grandmother just after my daughter died and suspect we would all have chosen different outcomes.The wishes of her family and the Father of the baby should have been taken into account of course.
This particular State says over 6 weeks of pregnancy is the limit.
Where should the line be drawn in poster’s opinion?

In my opinion, if the being in the womb was viable then the hospital could remove it and perform life-saving measures to his body but not medical care on the diseased mother.

If a 6 - 9 weeks pregnant mother dies, the fetus, (which is the size of an olive), dies, too. This is a natural process for a reason.

If we look at the O/P video, by law Ms Smith was required to wait 24 hours for time critical lifesaving care, and she had to be transferred to another hospital for something as basic as a CT scan.

Other details are in the video and the article that specifically addresses black women's maternity care. in Georgia that I quoted and posted.

The USA has a nigher infant mortality rate than the UK, so although clearly we in the UK might do better....

...its highlighting that the richest country in the world doesn't look after its women and its directly related to income, availability of care for low income famlies and race.

But the crucial difference is that in the Uk a doctor can make decisions with the family in early pregnancies. Ms Smiths doctors (its in the video) had to put it to a committee with lawyers (more delay) and that did not involve consultation with the family.

If this was a 30 week pregnancy I could understand the desire (with family agreement) to keep the mum on life support for one or two weeks to give the baby a better chance of survival without severe health consequences. A nine week pregnancy being prolonged is, in my opinion, beyond the pale.

As Doodledog articulated so well earlier in the thread the rights of women are being discarded at an alarming rate. All that had been achieved in almost 100 years to advance the equality and autonomy of women is being eroded in a matter of a few years. Men in powerful positions decide what rights women may or may not enjoy, and even who may be a woman. I look to countries like Afghanistan and feel for their women with their absence of any autonomy. We think it couldn't happen in the West, but situations like these draconian abortion laws progress us one step nearer. Like Doodledog I expected that my granddaughters wouldn't have to face the inequalities earlier generations had, but they already are and things will only get worse unless we halt this patriarchal march now.

Gilead for sure

I think to combat the issue with women around the world losing autonomy, we need to raise daughters/granddaughters to have an interest in law, politics and government positions. I'm not saying that women are without fault and can do a better job than men. I am saying that they have equal capabilities to listen, learn and make decisions on behalf of nations.

I am guessing that woman would be more likely to treat female citizens as humans and not portray them as cows.

To illustrate the problem with the world today, here is a year 2024 map depicting which nations have women leaders.

Macadia

How do we know that a strangulation did not happen? Where is the boyfriend now?

😲
Where’s this coming from?

Blood clots in the brain.

The perfect undetectable form of domestic violence. I've learned too much on the subject lately.

The pregnant woman was already ill, you can’t just more or less accuse the partner/ boyfriend of murder in public like this!

Rosie51

If this was a 30 week pregnancy I could understand the desire (with family agreement) to keep the mum on life support for one or two weeks to give the baby a better chance of survival without severe health consequences. A nine week pregnancy being prolonged is, in my opinion, beyond the pale.

As Doodledog articulated so well earlier in the thread the rights of women are being discarded at an alarming rate. All that had been achieved in almost 100 years to advance the equality and autonomy of women is being eroded in a matter of a few years. Men in powerful positions decide what rights women may or may not enjoy, and even who may be a woman. I look to countries like Afghanistan and feel for their women with their absence of any autonomy. We think it couldn't happen in the West, but situations like these draconian abortion laws progress us one step nearer. Like Doodledog I expected that my granddaughters wouldn't have to face the inequalities earlier generations had, but they already are and things will only get worse unless we halt this patriarchal march now.

So well said Rosie51 👏👏👏

Yes, I have cared for women in this situation, but not many and certainly not as early as 9 weeks gestation.

I am fairly sure this situation would be handled differently here and would depend on many circumstances.

I am unsure that such a pregnancy would show up on scan, it is too soon but I am out of the loop a little now, and so I feel that such a situation would be impossible to monitor at such an early stage. Scans only used to be carried at at twelve weeks.

Oreo

The pregnant woman was already ill, you can’t just more or less accuse the partner/ boyfriend of murder in public like this!

She was already ill? I didn't read that anywhere. I read that she had an awful headache.

I got an awful headache after being strangled and nearly died from multiple aneurysms, hemorrhaging with fluid on the brain. I learned that it is usually and indetectable crime with symptoms showing up days after the violence.

I will correct you here: I did not "more or less accuse the boyfriend." I asked how do we know he did not?

The baby's grandmother, (April Newkirk), has a GoFund me.

In the US, the baby's grandmother, by law, has zero visitation rights to the born child unless the child's father has signed papers to terminate his parental rights or if the child's father's interactions would harm the baby in which they could petition the courts; or if the grandparents are petitioning the courts to allow visits since one parent has died. They can't just take away the baby because they want to.

I would call this story bad journalism.

‘How do we know he did not’ you say Macadia well how do we know that he did?!
Introducing this into the thread is scurrilous.Nowhere in the article does it even imply it.

I don't think it's bad journalism, its an article specifically focussing on the Georgia State laws on abortion, levels of health care provision in that state, and designed to raise issues on the consequences of them by looking at one case.

There is very limited information on the family, but that may well be because of concerns to give them privacy in one of the most distressing and fraught issues that could occur.

(The other issue is that its written for a US audience who will know more about aspects of it and don't need it spelling it out in an article)

I hope the go fund me money helps any pursuit in law to help those who can best care for the family, but having to pay for that is yet another "its OK if you are well off".

Further to this, I understand that there has been an increase in female deaths from sepsis in certain states in the USA following a miscarriage.
Following an incomplete miscarriage, the contents of the uterus are usually removed medically.
Some states do not permit this until some time has passed from the cessation of fetal heartbeat. The opening to the womb is open, then, to infection, endangering the life of the woman, who may, of course, have other children .

Medical negligence compensation payments must be due to the family? Small comfort of course but I would hope that all medical bills are covered.

Keeping quiet - I think a 9 week pregnancy will show up on a scan. 5 weeks it may or may not, but by 6 weeks the scans pick up intra-uterine or ectopic pregnancy (which the bloodtests don't distinguish)
What do they do in the US about ectopic pregnancy? The only pregnancy or labour-related death I saw in many years working was an ectopic pregnancy where the mum died in the foyer of the hospital having collapsed, & the only treatment is medical or surgical termination of the pregnancy (as foetus will rupture the tube & cause severe haemorrhage if left).
They must happen in Georgia too so I would be interested to know if they treat ectopics there (I would be very surprised if they don't )

In this 16th of May report in the Independent it covers a bit more ground its clear

no one knows who will pay for keeping this dead woman in hospital although it was the State that ruled it so. fgs how crazy can it get.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/georgia-abortion-brain-dead-adriana-smith-b2752816.html

Life for women in the US seems to be under severe threat. Canada too.
1. Family planning,
2. Personal choice in family matters,
3. Not allowed an abortion
4 You can be chased from state to state if someone THINKS you are seeking an abortion
5. Privacy and single sex spaces, eg sauna, spa etc
6. School girls and sports
7. jobs and 'speaking the truth'

I know some of these take place here, but at least our SC has clarified the Equality law for us, and we have some excellent advocacy women's groups - Sex Matters; FWS ; Baroness Nicholson; WRN to name some of them.

But the Darlington Nurses still have to fight.
I think the SNP have a lot to answer for to the women of Scotland too - not least to Sandie Peggie.

ronib

Medical negligence compensation payments must be due to the family? Small comfort of course but I would hope that all medical bills are covered.

It would be good..if they can afford the lawyer!
Its till the idea that the family might be expected to pay for all this that is mind boggling.

We are fortunate having the Abortion Laws we do and free health care thats the big big difference on this topic.

She is being tube fed.

This article is well written: www.refinery29.com/en-au/2025/05/11898728/adriana-smith-georgia-pro-life-law

It is a good article - at the heart of it is

"The core of this issue is agency and the removal of all options and personal choices by people disconnected from Adriana and her family’s needs. “I’m not saying that we would have chose to terminate her pregnancy, but [what] I’m saying is: We should have had a choice,” said Smith’s mother, April Newkirk.

The race element also explained.