A 10-year-old was forced to leave her home state of Ohio and travel to Indiana to receive an abortion after she had been raped by 27 year-old Gerson Fuentes, who police said confessed to raping the child on at least two occasions.
Ohio is one of nine states that make no exception for cases of rape or incest in their anti-abortion laws, even though Ohio reported in 2020 that 52 children under the age of 15 recieved abortions and 469 children aged 15 to 17 also had abortions in their state. The other eight states with the strictest anti-abortion laws include: Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita made false claims that Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who was responsible for the child’s medical procedure, failed to properly report the abortion. Documents obtained by a local news station show that Bernard did in fact file the report and also filed it within the correct time frame. Rokita publicly threatened to take away Bernard’s medical license and on Fox News referred to her as an “abortion activist acting as a doctor.”
“My client, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, took every appropriate and proper action in accordance with the law and both her medical and ethical training as a physician. She followed all relevant policies, procedures, and regulations in this case, just as she does every day to provide the best possible care for her patients,” wrote Kathleen Delaney, Bernard’s attorney, in a statement.
“She has not violated any law, including patient privacy laws, and she has not been disciplined by her employer. We are considering legal action against those who have smeared my client, including Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, and know that the facts will all come out in due time,” added Delaney.
Dr. Bernard did not address the attorney general by name but did write a tweet regarding the procedure.
“My heart breaks for all survivors of sexual assault and abuse. I am so sad that our country is failing them when they need us most. Doctors must be able to give people the medical care they need, when and where they need it,” Bernard tweeted.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine called the child rape case a “tragedy” but refused to comment on the law he signed that denied her an abortion in her home state.
However, Republican politicians claimed the story was a lie, until the rapist confessed to the crime on Wednesday. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who is endorsed by the Ohio Right to Life PAC, boldly claimed the story was fabricated.
"Every day that goes by the more likely that this is a fabrication. I know the cops and prosecutors in this state. There's not one of them that wouldn't be turning over every rock, looking for this guy and they would have charged him," said Yost on Fox News. "I'm not saying it could not have happened. What I'm saying to you is there is not a damn scintilla of evidence. And shame on the Indianapolis paper that ran this thing on a single source who has an obvious axe to grind."
And then, after the rapist was arrested and charged, Yost issued a single statement saying, “We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets," contradicting his initial statement.
Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote in a since deleted tweet of the child rape victim, “Another lie. Anyone surprised?”
Fuentes has been charged with the rape, which is a first degree felony in the state of Ohio. He is being held on a $2 million bond at the Franklin County jail.
President Joe Biden has denounced Republican-led state legislatures—following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court—and condemned the flurry of new abortion restrictions as “extreme.”
“Does anyone believe that it’s Ohio’s majority view that that should not be able to be dealt with? Or in any other state in the nation? A 10-year-old girl should be forced to give birth to a rapist’s child?” Biden said last Friday after he revealed an executive order that will work to preserve abortion rights by protecting persons seeking abortion, traveling for abortion and access to abortion drugs.
“I can tell you that I don’t. I can’t think of anything that’s much more extreme,” said Biden last Friday about the Ohio victim who was denied an abortion in her state.
In response to the Indiana Attorney General attacking Dr. Bernard, Fabiola Carrión, the director of reproductive and sexual health at the National Health Law Program, referred to it as an “intimidation tactic.”
“Certainly, it’s an intimidation tactic. It’s currently legal in Indiana to offer abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. And even if it wasn’t, this is a life-endangerment situation. A 10-year-old with a still-developing body isn’t capable of delivering a baby,” said Carrión.
“This is going to have a chilling effect on providers who won’t want to risk making that assessment themselves in the future,” she added. “Health care providers are generally very risk-averse. They have to pay a lot of money for liability insurance. And now they’re being targeted by people who know far less than they do about complex medical situations.”
According to an analysis by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, less than 1% of rapists will face a felony conviction, while 89% of rape victims will struggle with physical injury caused by the rape, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.