Political Quotes

“I rise today to share the story of Adriana Smith. Adriana Smith was a 30-year-old nurse from Georgia and the mother of a vibrant 5-year-old boy. She started to experience debilitating headaches, and she sought medical care. She was discharged and her pain was dismissed, as is so often the case for Black women in this country and certainly in our healthcare system. The next morning, Adriana woke up gasping for air and was taken to Emory Hospital, where she was declared brain dead. There are no words to provide healing for a pain this deep--a dedicated and loving mother, a compassionate nurse, gone at the age of 30. In the days that followed, Adriana's family and son should have been able to make a solemn, independent decision about what happened next as they celebrated her life; as they mourned this devastating loss; as they pieced their lives back together; and as they began helping their 5-year-old cope with the grief and loss of his precious mother. Yet, the State of Georgia denied Adriana her bodily autonomy and dignity in death.”