Sofi Gratas covers rural health and health care for GPB. She joined GPB in June 2022 as a Report for America Corps member. Based in Macon, her coverage area includes Middle and South Georgia. Her focus is on the crisis facing rural communities that consistently rank near the bottom nationwide in health and health care. Sofi is a 2020 graduate of the University of Georgia's Grady School of Journalism. Prior to joining GPB, she worked at the Red and Black and WUGA.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed Georgia's House Bill 481 into law in 2019. The legislation remains tied up in federal courts, but in the wake of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, HB 481's ban after six weeks gestation has abortion providers— and women from Georgia and neighboring states — bracing for a new plan of care.
Calls to 988 will be answered by counselors trained in suicide prevention. Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities says the state has invested about $20.5 million in 988 related expenditures over the past 20 months.
