Dr. Dara Kass: Adriana Smith and the ethics of indifference: Fetal personhood laws created a medical and moral tragedy.

#abortion #adrianasmith
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/adriana-smith-and-the-ethics-of-indifference

The hospital in Georgia didn’t “save a life”

They had that chance when Adriana Smith sought medical care. They could have saved her & her fetus.

What they did was carry out a medical experiment without consent.

They failed her in life & then robbed her of dignity in death

She was only 9 weeks pregnant when declared brain dead.

There’s no medical precedent for keeping someone’s body on organ and tissue support at that stage in a pregnancy.

The fetus was not viable. It couldn’t survive the death of its mother.

The state and the hospital made a choice to experiment on a black woman, and didn’t take into account her wishes or the wishes of her next of kin.

Regardless of the outcome, the lack of consent is why we’re enraged.

This was done to further a far right pet project, fetal personhood.

This wasn’t about saving a life.

They don’t care about the life of her child.

They want to establish legal precedent to declare embryos and fetuses full people under the law.

If you don’t understand what that means, it would mean an end to IVF & abortion. It would mean that even miscarriages could be investigated for murder charges.

It would give a legal right to a fetus that no other person has, the right to use another body without ongoing consent

It would effectively criminalize pregnancy, while making life unsafe for everyone who has a uterus.

It would put women second.

Misogyny means we’re already treated as incubators a lot of the time, this would legalize it.

If that doesn’t scare the crap out of you, you aren’t paying attention.

If you still think it’s about “life”, consider this.

Georgia’s infant mortality is one of the worst in the US, and in 2022 (after the fall of Roe) they saw a 13% increase in infant deaths.

Even worse, black babies have the highest rate of infant deaths across the US (10.86 per 1000 live births)

Yet they experimented on a black woman and a black baby and none of the pro life crowd are doing anything to improve their survival odds.

Because it’s not above life, it’s about control. Subjugation. Taking our reproductive freedoms and autonomy.

This was a clear cut ethical violation and a grotesque medical experiment.

I hope more than anything that Chance is ok, but the outcome doesn’t change what happened

What they did was wrong and will put many lives in jeopardy if it is allowed to set precedent

If you want to be pro life? Fight Medicaid cuts. Fight cuts to food assistance. Lobby for better access to healthcare, housing, childcare & social supports

Help lower infant mortality

Also, believe patients. Especially women.

We shouldn’t talk about Adriana’s tragic story without mentioning that it was completely preventable

Had the hospital done their job & ran tests, she would still be here.

Misogyny & misogynoir kill. Every damn day.

Call it out. Keep shouting. Don’t let anyone forget.

#uspol #adrianasmith #reproductivehealth #fascism #racism #misogyny #misogynoir #MyBodyMyChoice

The cruel medical experiment on a black pregnant woman in Georgia will finally come to an end.

Adriana Smith was declared brain dead at 9 weeks pregnant after an ER sent her home with blood clots in her brain.

The hospital kept her body alive due to Georgia’s abortion ban

Adriana was a nurse who went to the ER due to severe headaches. She was dismissed despite blood clots in her brain and declared brain dead the next day.

Her body was placed on organ & tissue support due to the State’s strict abortion ban.

The family were not asked to consent. They had no say in the matter.

It’s generally not medically indicated to try and keep a body alive for a fetus of that age.

Only a handful of cases exist in the medical literature.

In the 35 cases studied, the median gestational age at time of brain death was 20 weeks, not 9.

27 neonates were born alive, only 8 were described as “healthy”

There was no medical precedent for what happened to Adriana.

In total she spent nearly 4 months on life support, all without her consent or the consent of next of kin.

The baby, Chance, has been born at 1lb 13oz and is in the NICU. Details about his prognosis are not yet known

The costs associated with both Adriana’s ICU stay and Chance’s NICU stay will be astronomical, and it remains to be seen if her family will be forced to pay them.

What we do know is the state forced this birth. The hospital forced this birth.

They won’t be the ones to care for the child, but they stripped Adriana and her family of their autonomy and dignity due to an abortion ban that seeks to control women.

They experimented on her to see if women can be treated as nothing more than vessels for fetuses.

Misogynoir killed Adriana, and then the State opted to experiment on her body.

That’s what happened here.

I’m glad that the baby has been born alive, and we should all hope for a good outcome, but we should be enraged this was allowed to happen in the first place.

My original article about Adriana Smith and medical misogyny looks at the policies of forced birth and what responsibility (if any) the government should have to provide to those it demands be brought into the world.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/adriana-smith-misogyny-and-the-cruelty

#uspol #fascism #georgia #abortion #abortionishealthcare #roevwade #misogyny #misogynoir #adrianasmith

Having your concerns dismissed in the ER is nothing new to most of us, especially women and marginalized individuals. Misogyny, ableism and discrimination are far more rampant in healthcare settings than we want to believe.

It’s even worse if you’re black. Misogynoir, which is the term given to the sexism and racism experienced by black women, is a serious issue in America. Black women are three times more likely to die in pregnancy because their pregnancy related concerns are frequently dismissed.

This intersection of sexism and racism creates an exceedingly dangerous situation, and it only gets worse in states with abortion bans.

My latest article is about Adriana Smith, abortion bans, Medicaid cuts and autonomy.

The patriarchal and misogynistic culture of medicine ends lives.

Abortion bans end lives.

We can and must do better:

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/adriana-smith-misogyny-and-the-cruelty

#misogyny #misogynoir #patriarchy #abortion #reproductivehealth #abortionishealthcare #adrianasmith #autonomy #mybodymychoice #uspoli #ableism #discrimination #eugenics

Adriana Smith was failed by the medical system. She attempted to access healthcare for severe headaches, and the ER sent her home. They dismissed her, as they’ve done to countless other women.

The next day she was pronounced brain dead, and due to Georgia’s strict abortion ban, placed on organ and tissue support without the consent of her family.

My latest looks at this medical experiment and why it’s a gross violation of ethics, the duty to ‘do no harm’ and bodily autonomy.

We must end the cruel policy of forced birth. Abortion bans don’t save lives, they end them.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/adriana-smith-misogyny-and-the-cruelty

#misogyny #misogynoir #racism #sexism #patriarchy #adrianasmith #abortion #abortionishealthcare #autonomy #disability #pregnancy #ableism #eugenics