The Columbus Dispatch public safety reporter and her colleagues spent days studying public records and calling sources, painstakingly narrowing their search for the girl’s attacker to central Ohio. Then Bruner spotted an entry on the July 13 local court docket and learned a man would be arraigned that morning for the rape of a 10-year-old. She quickly hoofed the half-mile from her office to the courthouse.

Inside the courtroom, Bruner kept glancing at the door, expecting to see another reporter enter. None did as the judge called up the case. “I guess it’s going to be me,” Bruner thought. “I guess I’m going to be the one.”

Within hours, the Dispatch and its sister paper, the Star, had locked down one the first major stories of the post-Roe v. Wade era: Contra the talking heads, police had indeed investigated and charged an Ohio man with impregnating a 10-year-old girl, who had to cross state lines for an abortion after the Supreme Court’s ruling allowed new Ohio restrictions to take effect. Their reporting demonstrated that the girl’s horrifying situation was not as rare as many had assumed. It also showed why the public rarely hears of such abortion stories — and why they will need local journalists to inform them of the impacts of Roe’s demise.