This article is reprinted from National Review with the permission of the author.

This post is in response to The Case of the Gestating Brain-Dead Mother: When in Doubt, Choose Life

Last month, I wrote about Adriana Smith, the pregnant young mother who tragically experienced blood clots in the brain and was declared dead by neurological criteria. Adriana’s body was maintained with mechanical support to allow her baby to be gestated.

I thought that was the right decision. Here is how I analyzed the situation in my post:

• Adriana is not being harmed.
• Her baby’s life is precious.
• The baby will be viable in the next several weeks.
• Potential disability does not make the baby’s life less important.
• We allow the bodies of people declared dead by neurological criteria to be maintained for organ donation, so why not gestation? Both are gifts of life.
• The crucial question is consent.
• Would Adriana have wanted her death to kill her child? There is nothing to indicate in the story that she would.

That column was quite controversial — something new for me (eye roll) — and I received many angry responses (as well as expressions of support). Most of my critics claimed that it was somehow undignified to force a dead woman to gestate a baby. I heard the trite Handmaid’s Tale trope more than once.

Well, time has passed, and thankfully Adriana’s baby was born by emergency caesarian section. From the 11 Alive story:

The family of Adriana Smith, a metro Atlanta nurse who was declared brain dead in February while pregnant, said her baby boy has arrived.

According to her mother, April Newkirk, the infant, named Chance, was born prematurely Friday, June 13, around 4:41 a.m. by emergency Cesarean section.

Newkirk said Chance weighs about 1 pound 13 ounces and is in NICU [neonatal intensive care unit].

“He’s expected to be OK,” Newkirk said. “He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him. Just keep praying for him. He’s here now.”

She’s now preparing to say goodbye to her daughter. Newkirk said the hospital will take Smith off of life support Tuesday.

That was always the point — to fulfill Adriana’s motherhood, not disrespect her humanity.

Here’s the bottom line: If Adriana’s body had been removed from mechanical support, there would have been two deaths. Because it wasn’t, now there is only one. Isn’t that a cause for celebration, even as we mourn the mother who was lost?