After four months on life support, Adriana Smith has been laid to rest.
In February, the registered nurse from Atlanta was declared brain dead while pregnant—and kept alive due to Georgia's abortion ban. On June 13, she gave birth to a son via emergency Caesarian section. On June 17, she was taken off of life support at age 31.
Her loved ones mourned Smith at her celebration of life service on Saturday, June 28, at Fairfield Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga.
Several loved ones shared tributes to Smith throughout the service, which was live-streamed on Facebook, including one from her younger sister.
"I just wanna say that I'm thankful for the time that I spent with her, and I'm thankful for everything that she's taught me. Her love, her kindness, her wisdom," Smith's sister said, adding that she hopes the late nurse "guides me to make the best decisions."
"Family meant everything to her," the sister concluded. "So I hope that I can follow in her footsteps. Besides that, I'm thankful for her."
As Smith's loved ones honored her at the Georgia church, her son, Chance, remained in the NICU, according to Atlanta outlet 11Alive.
Smith was declared brain dead on Feb. 19 at about nine weeks pregnant after suffering multiple blood clots in her brain, but she was kept alive due to Georgia's ban on abortion after six weeks gestation. It was enacted after the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade.
According to law, "no abortion shall be performed if the unborn child has a detectable human heartbeat except in the event of a medical emergency or medically futile pregnancy." In Georgia, a "medical emergency" is defined as "a condition in which an abortion is necessary in order to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or the substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman."
Smith's case was considered a legal gray area, and doctors reportedly told her family that because she was brain dead and no longer considered at risk, they were legally required to maintain life support until the fetus reached viability.
After almost four months on life support, she gave birth to Chance at 4:41 a.m. local time on June 13 via emergency Caesarian section, her mother, April Newkirk, told 11Alive. The newborn, who weighed about 1 lb., 13 oz., was taken to the NICU.
The infant is "expected to be okay," Newkirk told the Atlanta outlet at the time. "He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He's here now."
The mom also expressed that she "shouldn't be burying my daughter."
"My daughter should be burying me," Newkirk told 11Alive. "If I could say one more thing to her, I guess I would tell her that I love her and that she was a great daughter."
A GoFundMe page set up to help Smith's family has raised more than $460,000 of its $490,000 goal as of Sunday, June 29.