Washington, D.C.-based health policy reporter Amanda Seitz was the first to report on lawsuits filed against Texas by women who sought abortions because their babies would not survive, or their health was endangered. The sources came to her, they said, because of Seitz’s reporting on the impact of abortion restrictions around the country.
Seitz had already delivered exclusive coverage of federal investigations at hospitals in Missouri and Kansas that denied pregnant women emergency abortions. That’s why the Center for Reproductive Rights reached out and offered her another exclusive, allowing AP to have the most robust coverage of the Texas lawsuit.
The reporter’s sensitive interviews with some of the women filing the lawsuit were paired with photos taken by Dallas photographer Matthew Otero. The story package was on the front page of The Dallas Morning News, The Fort-Worth Star-Telegram and The Waco Tribune Herald. Several major competitors, including ABC and PBS, also picked up the story.
Seitz’s reporting received more than 158,000 views on Twitter and generated hundreds of retweets.