Ohio girl, 10, mentioned by Biden WAS forced to cross state lines for an abortion in Indiana: Man, 27, is charged with rape a day after Ohio Attorney General said 'not a whisper' was heard about her sexual assault
- Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with rape of a minor
- He's accused of raping a 10-year-old Ohio girl who reportedly traveled to Indiana to get an abortion hours after Supreme Court 's decision to overturn Roe v Wade
- Fuentes was arraigned Wednesday, days after some conservatives, had raised questions about whether the case was real
- He appeared in court on Wednesday and was given a $2 million bond
An
Ohio man has been charged with impregnating a 10-year-old girl who was forced to cross state lines to get an abortion - a story that garnered national attention following the
Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested on Tuesday and has been charged with one count of rape after police say he confessed to raping the child two different times, the
Columbus Dispatch reported.
The unidentified child made headlines when she traveled from Ohio to Indiana to get an abortion after the state banned the procedure after six weeks - hours after the 6-3 Supreme Court vote.
Fuentes was arraigned Wednesday, days after some conservatives, including Ohio's Republican governor and attorney general, had raised questions about whether the case was real. Abortion rights supporters had pointed to the story to highlight fallout from the Supreme Court ruling.
A detective testified Wednesday that Columbus police learned about the girl's pregnancy through a referral by Franklin County Children Services that was made by her mother on June 22, and that she had an abortion in Indianapolis on June 30, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
An Indianapolis physician who provides abortion services, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, had told The Indianapolis Star that an abortion had been provided for such a child because the girl couldn't get the abortion in Ohio, which had a newly imposed state ban on abortions at the first detectable 'fetal heartbeat.'
The child was six weeks and three days pregnant - therefore, ineligible by just three days to receive the procedure in her home state.
According to court records, a report was generated on June 22 with the Columbus Division of Police for rape. And on July 6, the victim identified Fuentes to authorities as the person who raped her.
A week later, Fuentes was served a search warrant for a saliva sample and was taken into custody where he confessed to raping the victim.
Fuentes appeared in court Wednesday and was given a $2 million bond. He is currently in the Franklin County Jail.
The arrest comes a day after the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said his office didn't hear a 'whisper' about the 10-year-old girl who allegedly had to leave the state in order to get an abortion, and said there's 'no biological evidence' of the case as a rape kit was not performed.
Yost, 65, told Fox News' Jesse Watters on Monday that a police report was never filed involving a 10-year-old rape victim and that the office 'works closely' with law enforcement, indicating that he would have known about it if one was filed.
'We have regular contact with prosecutors and local police and sheriffs, not a whisper anywhere,' he told Fox News.
Even more telling, Jesse, my office runs the state crime lab. Any case like this, you're going to have a rape kit, you're going to have biological evidence, and you'd be looking for DNA analysis,' he said on Monday. 'There is no case request for analysis that looks anything like this.'
The case made national headlines soon after the Indianapolis Star, an Indiana-based publication, reported a little girl had to cross state lines to receive an abortion because she was denied one in Ohio. An Indianapolis gynecologist claimed an Ohio abuse doctor got in contact with her hours after the Supreme Court's controversially overturned Roe v. Wade.
The child was allegedly six weeks and three days pregnant - therefore, ineligible by just three days to receive the procedure in her home state.
Abortion advocates in the state attempted to halt Ohio's six-week abortion ban, but the effort was denied by a judge on Friday.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...orced-cross-state-lines-abortion-Indiana.html