During a memorial to Adriana Smith, state Rep. Park Cannon unveiled new legislation aimed at giving patients and their families more control over Georgia's severe abortion law.

 "As a doula who is working in and out of Georgia hospitals, I can personally understand how families' decision-making gets overshadowed by the climate of medical hostility in Georgia," Cannon told Atlanta's Capital B.

Smith's case received global attention due to its unique and contentious circumstances. On February 9, Smith began complaining about headaches. The young nurse and her mother sought assistance at two separate hospitals before being discharged with medicine but no CT scan. 

A week later, Smith was discovered unresponsive at home, and on February 19, she was formally pronounced brain-dead and placed on life support. Her mother, April Newkirk, told WXIA that doctors at Emory Hospital claimed they couldn't legally examine any additional choices.

 "I'm not saying that we would have chosen to terminate her pregnancy, but what I'm saying is, we should have had a choice," Newkirk told reporters.

In June, a few days after doctors performed an emergency cesarean surgery to prematurely deliver her baby, the young mother of two was taken off life support. 

Newkirk provided an update on her grandson last week. Smith's son Chance, born at six months, weighed only one pound and thirteen ounces.  

"He is just battling. We just want to pray for him. Please keep praying for him. "He's here now," she explained. Smith also leaves behind a 7-year-old son, Chase.

Cannon's proposed new law would have returned control of Smith's end-of-life care to her family, who were not consulted before physicians put her on life support to save her six-week-old fetus.

Adriana's Law would take precedence over Georgia's LIFE ACT, which prohibits abortion after the detection of embryonic heart activity, which is normally in the sixth week. An advance directive, sometimes known as a living will, is a legal instrument that allows a patient to express their end-of-life desires ahead of time if they become incapacitated.

"The family has been quite clear throughout this process that because she is a nurse and has an Advanced Medical Directive, [Smith’s] wishes should be fulfilled. However, because the hospital system was afraid of retaliation from the state's abortion restriction, they did not follow those desires," Cannon explained.

She added: "We are currently in the drafting phase, and we will conduct a public roundtable of stakeholders in August. So, if somebody is interested in participating in that stakeholder roundtable, they should contact my office, and we'll disclose that information when it's appropriate," Cannon said.