Ohio police have confirmed that a 10-year-old rape victim crossed state lines to terminate her pregnancy, local media reported Wednesday, in a case that drew widespread attention after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal right to an abortion would have.
The girl’s ordeal of traveling to neighboring Indiana for the medical procedure was recently highlighted by President Joe Biden when he signed legislation aimed at helping women who want an abortion.
A trigger law banning all abortions after six weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest, went into effect in Ohio last month after the nation’s Supreme Court ended decades of constitutional protections for the right to terminate a pregnancy.
The shocking case was questioned by conservative media and the Ohio Attorney General, who cast doubt on the veracity of the story.
But Columbus, Ohio Police Detective Jeffrey Huhn testified in court early Wednesday that the unidentified girl underwent an abortion June 30 in Indianapolis, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
According to the newspaper Huhn testified at the indictment of a man who was arrested by police on Tuesday and said he confessed to raping the child.
Huhn also told the court that DNA samples from the Indiana clinic would be tested against the 27-year-old suspect, the Dispatch said.
Court documents from Franklin County, Ohio confirm that a 27-year-old Gerson Fuentes was charged Wednesday with raping a person under the age of 13.
The disturbing story, first reported by the Indianapolis Star, has garnered international attention and has become a focal point on the deeply divisive issue of abortion rights in America.
Biden spoke about the Ohio rape victim during a July 8 ceremony where he signed into law protecting reproductive rights and asking Congress to codify Row v Wade, the 1973 ruling that established the statewide right to abortion.
“Just last week it was reported that a 10-year-old girl in Ohio was a rape victim — 10 years old — and she was forced to travel out of state to Indiana to attempt an abortion,” Biden said, noting, that the girl was six weeks pregnant.
“Imagine you are that little girl.”
– reverse course –
The Wall Street Journal editorial board on Tuesday criticized Biden for giving his “presidential seal of approval” to an unlikely story from a biased source that fits neatly into the progressive narrative but cannot be verified.
On Wednesday, it added an editorial note to the article saying the Columbus Dispatch confirmed the story — but not immediately the article or its headline, which read “An abortion story too good to confirm.” changed.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, strongly suggested to Fox News late Monday that the case was fabrication and there was “no whisper” of evidence to support claims that a 10-year-old rape victim Ohio got an abortion.
On Wednesday, he reversed course and said in a statement after the arrest that he commended the Columbus Police Department for “getting a confession and taking a rapist off the street.”
Thirteen states have already passed trigger laws prohibiting abortion, in some states even in cases of rape or incest.
Biden, a Democrat and staunch Catholic turned pro-choice advocate, has not contained his anger, calling the bans on abortion in cases of rape or incest “extreme.”
A majority of Americans — 56 percent, according to an NPR/Marist poll — oppose overthrowing Roe v Wade.
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