Legally Dead—And Pregnant

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4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

Adriana Smith was nine weeks pregnant when she was declared brain dead in February—far enough along that her fetus showed cardiac activity. The hospital then refused to let her family decide whether or not they want to keep Smith on life support long enough for the fetus to be delivered. Guests: Imani Gandy, Editor-at-Large for Rewire News Group, covering law and courts and co-host of the podcast “Boom! Lawyered.” Mary Ziegler, law professor at UC Davis, author of Personhood: The New Civil War Over Reproduction. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Isabel Angell, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Ava from Vanta.
0:02.0	In today's digital world, compliance regulations are changing constantly,
0:07.0	and earning customer trust has never mattered more.
0:10.0	Vanta helps companies get compliant fast and stay secure,
0:13.0	with the most advanced AI automation and continuous monitoring out there.
0:17.0	So whether you're a startup going for your first stock two or ISO-27,001, or a growing
0:22.1	enterprise managing vendor risk, Banta makes it quick, easy and scalable. And I'm not to saying
0:27.2	that because I work here. Get started today at banta.com. Amazon offers term time working to their
0:33.5	employees, like Anton, who's home to look after his daughters during their holidays.
0:40.3	Hello!
0:41.3	To him, this is the best sound in the world.
0:44.3	Daddy!
0:45.3	Actually, maybe that's the best sound of all.
0:51.3	Now that's term time working. Offered at Amazon. Ten weeks
0:56.4	off guaranteed per year. Mix of paid holiday and unpaid time off. Conditions apply.
1:04.4	I have been pregnant twice. And one of the most disorienting things about the experience,
1:12.6	both times, was how being pregnant seemed to change the people around me.
1:18.9	Like, when I went to the doctor, I was the person in the waiting room, the person getting my blood drawn.
1:25.1	But the patient, that wasn't me. That was my unborn kid.
1:32.7	Sometimes, like during an ultrasound, this shift felt benign. Other times, not so much. Like when I went
1:41.6	into labor and wanted to avoid taking a drug to speed things up.
1:46.0	I was told if I didn't hurry, my baby could end up in intensive care.
	...

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