It's this statement right here -- "And if you're thinking, “Well this is tragic, but rare,” ask yourself: How rare do you need it to be before you care?"
I care about this for the women and girls that I know and love. My mind has always gone to circumstances like this involving pregnancy. I cannot imagine my family not having a choice in what happened to me. Everyone should have that choice.
Somewhat off topic, but also kind of not: Costco has generic Plan B at their pharmacy for sale for $5.99. You do not need a membership to purchase from their pharmacy. You can pay cash to not leave a paper trail.
Vulnerability matched with a sub. When I moved to NC from IL I noticed some differences from my first pregnancy to my second, and even during the first there were things with care that made me wonder was it like this because of COVID or because of hospitals protecting themselves because of roe vs wade, etc. Things like not getting seen until you are so many weeks. Is it because they are so booked, or because there is less time between whatever state law or less of a gray area? During my second pregnancy I had two loved ones experience losses in theirs. One had a d and c and the other didn’t. One ended in a molar pregnancy or potentially ectopic pregnancy that never properly was released and resulted in a loss of fallopian tube and multiple ivf attempts to no avail. Both had access to capital to pay for ivf when many people do not. I think seeing the different outcomes to me showed how much politics playing into healthcare impacts real people and real lives.
I also had some stuff come up in my pregnancy where I had been told that I had to receive treatment and not necessarily given answers to any of what happened to me just the government making sure my child was okay, which I’m grateful for, but would also want to know how what happened, happened.
The level of autonomy that women give up in pregnancy or the second a pregnancy occurs has been concerning to see the last few years. Whether it was just not being as aware of it before; I am very aware and concerned reading about this case. There have been women in the south imprisoned for smoking cannabis because it was seen as protecting their fetus. SC’s new bill, regardless of what legislators decide I didn’t know of either of my pregnancies until I was 9 weeks and I was one of the people that hyper focused and checked way more than what was probably healthy.
I joined a mom group when I moved here and it was eye opening to the lack of support and how isolating motherhood can be in those first years. Like you mention about a rare occurrence but that it shouldn’t have to happen for people to think critically about it. Hearing women share some of the different experiences they’ve felt and even the more privileged ones, we all had a collective trauma. I have one more year on my implant but it makes me wonder if I should just have my husband get a snip. We go back and forth and really don’t see us trying for a third child because we’re worried it will tip the scales for us mentally and financially but it’s kind of been like watching a door slowly close in front of us knowing there’s no way you’d get to it in time. Even my sibling who had that d and c. In her twenties after getting married she never would’ve thought she’d be diagnosed with breast cancer after her honeymoon. Never would’ve thought it would derail her decision to have children for six years, and I know she’s so grateful she could afford to choose to freeze her eggs because that pregnancy that unfortunately was my nephew, she was told her cancer might’ve affected her eggs. Even her facing new times where she’d frozen so many like many choosing ivf knowing that there are losses, knowing there’s more context to the process. Now knowing at this point in her life she doesn’t want 7 children. Knowing now even though she likes Trump and voted for them, it affects her because society is starting to judge people for not utilizing all of them.
Also, just from a standpoint of medical torture. A cousin of mine was in a motorcycle accident with a deer. He survived but spent a lot of time in an ICU recovering. He’s redheaded and had a harder time with pain management and sedation. When I think of fetus viability I always think of the NICU is an ICU. Meaning they are doing all kinds of live saving work in the process of achieving an outcome of survival but the means to which it is achieved some would describe as torture. This case brings a whole new level of that with two victims directly as well as the cascade of the loved ones of Adriana Smith including her other child are going through. I know right now they aren’t intervening directly with her baby, but when they remove him and decide to put him in the NICU that is exactly what we are sanctioning.
As a young cancer survivor, I know it's not actually rare for women to have to choose between continuing a pregnancy or beginning life-saving care. My biggest fear when Roe was overturned and Trump was elected again was that women would lose the ability to choose to save their own lives and would instead become incubators for fetuses that might or might not even be viable.
Even one person who finds themselves in a situation like that or like Adriana Smith's is one person too many.
This is awful and scary. I delivered at Northside ( the first hospital that sent her home without tests) and it specializes obstetrics so it’s not like it was some limited resourced community based hospital. During my pregnancy I had a headache and leg pain which ended up being nothing but they took it so seriously and admitted me and ran tons of tests immediately. I felt like I was taken so seriously and listened to the entire time there and it’s sick that black women have a different experience.
It’s why high school grad is going to college out of state (we’re in Texas). I don’t want to take a chance she won’t be able to do what she needs to do to take care of herself.
I live in Atlanta and I’ve been thinking about this poor woman every day. I don’t even have words. But I do know that no matter what is wrong with me, every one of my friends and family members know to let me die before they take me to Emory.
It’s all awful and wrong and horrifying. Agree Adriana’s story needs to be shared far and wide. AND it says her family is paying for this care. WTF?! The state should pay these fees! It’s their law! Not surprised but that’s adding more pain when they aren’t being given power of attorney.
AND not to be crass, another point is that the hospital is using a bed to make Adriana an incubator at a time when our health care system is stressed and there are never enough beds. Shows these band and abortion laws (once again) are never about life or providing quality care and it’s always about control.
I just learned 🤯 upon hearing about Adriana per an IG post made by @drjenniferlincoln
Medical directives: Over 30 states have pregnancy exclusions that can override your advance directive if you're pregnant. Nine states (Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin) automatically invalidate all advance directives for pregnant people- no matter how early the pregnancy or whether the fetus could survive- forcing life support even against explicit wishes.
That means if you're incapacitated, you could be kept on life support against your stated wishes —all because you're 6 weeks pregnant.
Yet..a directive is valid & honored (even if would save a life) for donation of organs, blood, bone marrow, body for research.. Women have never had bodily autonomy- we are viewed as here to serve…
This is absolutely horrific and I've seen this talked about in all the news circles I follow, including here. Her family deserves the choice in whether to remove life support on their daughter. They know her best, they know what she would have wanted. They didn't even get the choice and it's terrifying.
It's this statement right here -- "And if you're thinking, “Well this is tragic, but rare,” ask yourself: How rare do you need it to be before you care?"
I care about this for the women and girls that I know and love. My mind has always gone to circumstances like this involving pregnancy. I cannot imagine my family not having a choice in what happened to me. Everyone should have that choice.
I'm about to leave my house to get my IUD insertion while I still can. I'm a single mom of two girls in Alabama, and I am TERRIFIED.
Somewhat off topic, but also kind of not: Costco has generic Plan B at their pharmacy for sale for $5.99. You do not need a membership to purchase from their pharmacy. You can pay cash to not leave a paper trail.
This is a great post, but I hate that people have to imagine it was someone they know in order for them to care. So tragic.
Vulnerability matched with a sub. When I moved to NC from IL I noticed some differences from my first pregnancy to my second, and even during the first there were things with care that made me wonder was it like this because of COVID or because of hospitals protecting themselves because of roe vs wade, etc. Things like not getting seen until you are so many weeks. Is it because they are so booked, or because there is less time between whatever state law or less of a gray area? During my second pregnancy I had two loved ones experience losses in theirs. One had a d and c and the other didn’t. One ended in a molar pregnancy or potentially ectopic pregnancy that never properly was released and resulted in a loss of fallopian tube and multiple ivf attempts to no avail. Both had access to capital to pay for ivf when many people do not. I think seeing the different outcomes to me showed how much politics playing into healthcare impacts real people and real lives.
I also had some stuff come up in my pregnancy where I had been told that I had to receive treatment and not necessarily given answers to any of what happened to me just the government making sure my child was okay, which I’m grateful for, but would also want to know how what happened, happened.
The level of autonomy that women give up in pregnancy or the second a pregnancy occurs has been concerning to see the last few years. Whether it was just not being as aware of it before; I am very aware and concerned reading about this case. There have been women in the south imprisoned for smoking cannabis because it was seen as protecting their fetus. SC’s new bill, regardless of what legislators decide I didn’t know of either of my pregnancies until I was 9 weeks and I was one of the people that hyper focused and checked way more than what was probably healthy.
I joined a mom group when I moved here and it was eye opening to the lack of support and how isolating motherhood can be in those first years. Like you mention about a rare occurrence but that it shouldn’t have to happen for people to think critically about it. Hearing women share some of the different experiences they’ve felt and even the more privileged ones, we all had a collective trauma. I have one more year on my implant but it makes me wonder if I should just have my husband get a snip. We go back and forth and really don’t see us trying for a third child because we’re worried it will tip the scales for us mentally and financially but it’s kind of been like watching a door slowly close in front of us knowing there’s no way you’d get to it in time. Even my sibling who had that d and c. In her twenties after getting married she never would’ve thought she’d be diagnosed with breast cancer after her honeymoon. Never would’ve thought it would derail her decision to have children for six years, and I know she’s so grateful she could afford to choose to freeze her eggs because that pregnancy that unfortunately was my nephew, she was told her cancer might’ve affected her eggs. Even her facing new times where she’d frozen so many like many choosing ivf knowing that there are losses, knowing there’s more context to the process. Now knowing at this point in her life she doesn’t want 7 children. Knowing now even though she likes Trump and voted for them, it affects her because society is starting to judge people for not utilizing all of them.
What an awful story. You're right, everyone should know Adriana's name and what they have done to her.
This is absolutely horrifying. I’m in South Carolina and it is just a matter of time…
Also, just from a standpoint of medical torture. A cousin of mine was in a motorcycle accident with a deer. He survived but spent a lot of time in an ICU recovering. He’s redheaded and had a harder time with pain management and sedation. When I think of fetus viability I always think of the NICU is an ICU. Meaning they are doing all kinds of live saving work in the process of achieving an outcome of survival but the means to which it is achieved some would describe as torture. This case brings a whole new level of that with two victims directly as well as the cascade of the loved ones of Adriana Smith including her other child are going through. I know right now they aren’t intervening directly with her baby, but when they remove him and decide to put him in the NICU that is exactly what we are sanctioning.
As a young cancer survivor, I know it's not actually rare for women to have to choose between continuing a pregnancy or beginning life-saving care. My biggest fear when Roe was overturned and Trump was elected again was that women would lose the ability to choose to save their own lives and would instead become incubators for fetuses that might or might not even be viable.
Even one person who finds themselves in a situation like that or like Adriana Smith's is one person too many.
This is awful and scary. I delivered at Northside ( the first hospital that sent her home without tests) and it specializes obstetrics so it’s not like it was some limited resourced community based hospital. During my pregnancy I had a headache and leg pain which ended up being nothing but they took it so seriously and admitted me and ran tons of tests immediately. I felt like I was taken so seriously and listened to the entire time there and it’s sick that black women have a different experience.
It’s why high school grad is going to college out of state (we’re in Texas). I don’t want to take a chance she won’t be able to do what she needs to do to take care of herself.
I live in Atlanta and I’ve been thinking about this poor woman every day. I don’t even have words. But I do know that no matter what is wrong with me, every one of my friends and family members know to let me die before they take me to Emory.
It’s all awful and wrong and horrifying. Agree Adriana’s story needs to be shared far and wide. AND it says her family is paying for this care. WTF?! The state should pay these fees! It’s their law! Not surprised but that’s adding more pain when they aren’t being given power of attorney.
AND not to be crass, another point is that the hospital is using a bed to make Adriana an incubator at a time when our health care system is stressed and there are never enough beds. Shows these band and abortion laws (once again) are never about life or providing quality care and it’s always about control.
I just learned 🤯 upon hearing about Adriana per an IG post made by @drjenniferlincoln
Medical directives: Over 30 states have pregnancy exclusions that can override your advance directive if you're pregnant. Nine states (Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin) automatically invalidate all advance directives for pregnant people- no matter how early the pregnancy or whether the fetus could survive- forcing life support even against explicit wishes.
That means if you're incapacitated, you could be kept on life support against your stated wishes —all because you're 6 weeks pregnant.
Yet..a directive is valid & honored (even if would save a life) for donation of organs, blood, bone marrow, body for research.. Women have never had bodily autonomy- we are viewed as here to serve…
This is absolutely horrific and I've seen this talked about in all the news circles I follow, including here. Her family deserves the choice in whether to remove life support on their daughter. They know her best, they know what she would have wanted. They didn't even get the choice and it's terrifying.