A 10-year-old girl, pregnant after being raped, had to leave her home state of Ohio to have an abortion in the face of the Supreme Court, a police official cited by US media confirmed on Wednesday.
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Her tragic story, initially reported by an Indiana gynecologist, was cited by President Joe Biden on Friday in rejecting a June 24 Supreme Court ruling that no longer guarantees the right to an abortion.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, whose state immediately banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, questioned its veracity. “It sounds like a discovery,” said the Republican, who was particularly elected.
Columbus police, however, arrested a suspect on Tuesday, and when he appeared before a judge on Wednesday, an investigator confirmed the details of the tragedy, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
Agent Geoffrey Hoon explained to the magistrate that the victim’s mother had informed the local Child Protective Services about her daughter’s pregnancy on June 22 and she had then taken the police into custody.
The girl was aborted on June 30 in the neighboring state of Indiana, where abortion is legal and fetal remains undergo genetic testing to confirm a link to the suspect, the police said.
According to court documents seen by AFP, Gerson Fuentes, 27, was charged with “rape of a minor under the age of 13” following the May 12 attack. He was booked into the Franklin County Jail.
Contacted by AFP, Columbus police did not respond.
After the Supreme Court ruling, a dozen conservative states have banned abortions on their soil. Most make an exception to protect the life of a pregnant woman, but not always in cases of rape or sex.
