Over the last two years, ProPublica has been diligently tracking the consequences of state abortion bans that have come into effect in nearly half the country after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. We found that women in serious danger have been forced to continue high-risk pregnancies that threatened their lives and have been turned away from emergency rooms because of abortion bans. We’ve written about hospital abortion committees that have to make high-stakes decisions for patients with health risks. In interviews with more than three dozen OB-GYNs in states that outlawed abortion, we learned how difficult it is to interpret the vague and conflicting language in bans’ medical exceptions — especially, the doctors said, when questions about their judgment can come with the threat of prison time. Yet even when some Republican lawmakers have said they regretted passing the bans and tried to make small changes, they have run up against anti-abortion lobbyists who want to keep the laws exactly as strict as they are. In September, ProPublica uncovered two cases of women in Georgia who died after they couldn’t access timely medical care under the state’s abortion ban. And in October, we reported that two pregnant Texas women died after doctors delayed treating miscarriages. There are almost certainly other cases that raise questions about the harm caused by state abortion bans.
Our investigations into the deaths of Amber Thurman, Candi Miller, Josseli Barnica and Nevaeh Crain highlight how health care for pregnant patients has changed in states like Texas and Georgia that banned abortion, and how that can lead to deaths that experts deem preventable.
This virtual Q&A with reporters Kavitha Surana, Cassandra Jaramillo and Lizzie Presser, and with deputy managing editor Alexandra Zayas, will offer an inside look at ProPublica’s reproductive health coverage and our “Post-Roe America” series, reporting on the tremendous upheaval caused by laws that restrict abortion access across the nation.
Submit your question when you RSVP.
Speakers include:
- Kavitha Surana, ProPublica reporter
- Cassandra Jaramillo, ProPublica reporter
- Lizzie Presser, ProPublica reporter
- Ziva Branstetter, ProPublica senior editor
- Alexandra Zayas, ProPublica deputy managing editor
This event has ended.