Kavitha Surana
I have been reporting on changes to reproductive health care access since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
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What I Cover
I have been reporting on changes to reproductive health care access since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
I regularly speak with doctors, patients, researchers, community workers and lawmakers to better understand how maternal health care has been affected by abortion restrictions. Learn more about how ProPublica covers maternal health and how to get in touch.
My Background
I joined ProPublica as a national reporter in 2022. Since then, I have investigated the consequences of state abortion bans for people facing life-threatening pregnancy complications, including uncovering deaths that could have been prevented, and a rise in maternal sepsis rates in Texas after the state banned abortion.
The reporting led to a federal investigation and spurred lawmakers in multiple states to file bills expanding abortion access. I interviewed experts across the country to help create a guide on the medical procedures that could save your life during a pregnancy loss.
My reporting has taken me inside a hospital abortion committee and a private meeting between anti-abortion activists urging Republican lawmakers not to change a strict ban.
I also spent a year partnering with a photographer to document one family’s struggle to navigate Tenneessee’s social safety net after being denied an abortion for a life-threatening pregnancy.
Before joining ProPublica, I reported on housing, law enforcement and health care inequality at the Tampa Bay Times and BuzzFeed News. I was previously a 2018 fellow at ProPublica covering immigration.
I got my start in international journalism. I interned at the Associated Press in Rome and was a fellow at Foreign Policy magazine. I speak Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French, and I’ve reported from Italy, Germany, Rwanda, Colombia and Senegal.
Abortion Bans Have Delayed Emergency Medical Care. In Georgia, Experts Say This Mother’s Death Was Preventable.
At least two women in Georgia died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state, ProPublica has found. This is one of their stories.
The Year After a Denied Abortion
Tennessee law prohibits women from having abortions in nearly all circumstances. But once the babies are here, the state provides little help. We followed one family as they struggled to make it.
A Third Woman Died Under Texas’ Abortion Ban. Doctors Are Avoiding D&Cs and Reaching for Riskier Miscarriage Treatments.
Thirty-five-year-old Porsha Ngumezi’s case raises questions about how abortion bans are pressuring doctors to avoid standard care even in straightforward miscarriages.
Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared.
ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.
Georgia Won’t Say Who’s Now Serving on Its Maternal Mortality Committee After Dismissing All Members Last Year
Before ProPublica’s reporting on the deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, the names of committee members had been publicly released. Now, Georgia says releasing the identities would be a violation of state law.
Lawmakers in at Least Seven States Seek Expanded Abortion Access
Some of the bills were filed in direct response to ProPublica’s reporting on the fatal consequences of abortion bans.
The CDC Hasn’t Asked States to Track Deaths Linked to Abortion Bans
The Biden administration hasn’t delivered on its goals of measuring the public health impact of abortion bans. Experts say it’s a missed opportunity to study how the laws may lead to deaths and long-term injuries.
Report: Hospitals Rarely Advise Doctors on How to Treat Patients Under Abortion Bans
Doctors described hospital lawyers who “refused to meet” with them for months, were hard to reach during “life or death” situations and offered little help beyond “regurgitating” the law, according to a Senate Finance Committee report.
If You’re Pregnant, Here’s What You Should Know About the Medical Procedures That Could Save Your Life
Women experiencing pregnancy loss in states with abortion bans told us they wished they had known what to expect and how to advocate for themselves. We created this guide for anyone who finds themselves in the same position.
Are Abortion Bans Across America Causing Deaths? The States That Passed Them Are Doing Little to Find Out.
The same political leaders who enacted abortion bans oversee the state committees that review maternal deaths. These committees haven’t tracked the laws’ impacts, and most haven’t finished examining cases from the year the bans went into effect.
Georgia Dismissed All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee After ProPublica Obtained Internal Details of Two Deaths
In a letter, the state’s public health commissioner said the action was taken because “confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outside individuals.”
Texas Lawmakers Push for New Exceptions to State’s Strict Abortion Ban After the Deaths of Two Women
The new legislation, prompted by ProPublica’s reporting, comes after 111 Texas doctors signed a public letter urging that the ban be changed because it “does not allow us as medical professionals to do our jobs.”
Una mujer de Texas murió después de que el hospital dijera que sería un “delito” intervenir en su aborto espontáneo
Josseli Barnica es una de por lo menos dos mujeres de Texas que murieron después de que los médicos demoraran la atención de emergencia. Le contó a su esposo que el equipo de médicos le dijo que no podía actuar hasta que se detuviera el latido fetal.
A Pregnant Teenager Died After Trying to Get Care in Three Visits to Texas Emergency Rooms
It took three ER visits and 20 hours before a hospital admitted Nevaeh Crain, 18, as her condition worsened. Doctors insisted on two ultrasounds to confirm “fetal demise.” She’s one of at least two Texas women who died under the state’s abortion ban.