Joint Statement from Representatives Sanchez, Campbell, & McQueen and the Cobb County Democratic Committee Executive Board
We are devastated and outraged by the preventable death of Adriana Smith, a young mother whose life was cut short in the state with one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country. Despite being brain-dead, and without the family's consent, she has been forced to be on life support for more than 90 days due to a fetus that is not viable. How can we allow such a horrific event in Georgia?
This is what happens when the extremist GA GOP & Brian Kemp force through unpopular policy, in this case the heartbeat bill. It is a testament to the cruelty of the GOP. One member in particular, Senator Ed Setzler, who was the author of the heartbeat bill, gave callous remarks suggesting gratitude for the potential future of a child—while ignoring the unbearable, irreversible loss of Adriana’s life.
As a Georgia family wrestles with loss and suffering, the Cobb republican says he feels “thankful” and “proud” if this results in a healthy birth. It has been reported that there may be fluid pressing on the developing brain inside Adriana’s body which has the family worried they won’t survive once born.
Regardless, the fact of the matter is that Adriana’s humanity was stripped from her by Senator Setzler and his ilk. She was a mother. A daughter. A member of our community. But the Senator doesn’t even give her the dignity to say her name. All she is to him is the, “dying young mother.”
To speak of “joy” in this context is not only offensive—it’s dangerous. It reinforces a narrative that women are disposable once they become pregnant, and that their suffering is an acceptable cost in pursuit of a political agenda. Senator Setzler and Representative Ginny Erhart crafted a law that is keeping a family from closure and forcing them to watch their daughter’s lifeless body be used as a human incubator until that same body is forced to produce a likely stillbirth.To them, Adriana Smith is a vessel to be used and discarded.
Georgia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country—especially for Black women. These laws aren’t protecting life. They are extinguishing it.
According to the AJC, “a recent survey of Georgia OB-GYNs, done by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in conjunction with Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, found that nearly half of doctors participating said they have personally encountered cases where care had to be delayed, causing death or health complications for the mother, as a result of ambiguity in the state’s abortion law.”
We are calling for immediate repeal of HB 481, the heartbeat bill, and policies that criminalize healthcare decisions and put families at risk. We should instead expand the right to reproductive freedom and invest in reproductive healthcare with legislation like the Reproductive Freedom Act, HB 598. We stand with Adriana’s family, who now must watch her be reduced to an incubator, and have to deal with the soaring medical costs of keeping her on life support.
This is a moment for Georgia to wake up. We must value the lives of women as much as we claim to value the unborn. We must listen to doctors. We must protect families. Above all, we must stop allowing extremist ideology to dictate who lives and who dies.
Adriana’s family should have the right to decide what happens to her after death. We will not forget her name. We will not stop fighting until no family has to endure this kind of loss again.
Representative Gabriel Sanchez
Georgia House District 42
Representative Lisa Campbell
Georgia House District 35
Representative Mekyah McQueen
Georgia House District 61
Executive Board
Cobb County Democratic Committee