Gershon Fuentes is charged with the rape of a 10-year-old victim in Ohio who had an abortion in Indiana
Columbus Police Detective Jeffrey Huhn testified that the arrest came after a referral from Franklin County Children Services, who, according to WXIN’s prosecution video, had contacted the girl’s mother on June 22 — two days before the colonel Court overturned Roe v. calf. The girl had an abortion at an Indianapolis clinic on June 30, Huhn said.
The detective added that Fuentes’ DNA will be tested to confirm he was the father of the aborted fetus, according to video of the hearing.
Fuentes faces life imprisonment if convicted.
Neither Clark Torbett, Fuentes’ attorney at the Franklin County Public Defender’s Office, nor a Franklin County Children’s Services representative immediately responded to requests for comment Wednesday. Franklin County Assistant Attorney Dan Meyer told the Washington Post that it is the office’s policy “not to comment on ongoing investigations.”
The story of the 10-year-old victim was first published by Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis doctor who performs abortions. In an Indianapolis Star article published July 1, Bernard said she was called by a child abuse doctor in Ohio about a 10-year-old patient who was six weeks and three days pregnant.
The girl had to travel to Indiana for her procedure because abortions are now banned in Ohio after six weeks. Ohio was one of 13 states with “trigger bans” that were only supposed to go into effect once roe was knocked down. Since the Dobbs Ruling Ohio imposed a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape and incest. While performing an abortion remains legal in Indiana six weeks ago, lawmakers are expected to meet this month to consider further abortion restrictions.
The story quickly gained international attention. In passionate remarks about the future of abortion, Biden expressed his outrage at the reported case. “She was forced to travel out of state to Indiana to terminate the pregnancy and possibly save her life,” Biden said at the White House last week. “Ten years old – 10 years old! – raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, had to travel to another state.”
Shortly after Biden’s speech, Republicans — including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Rep. Jim Jordan — expressed skepticism about the story. In an op-ed Tuesday night titled “An abortion story too good to confirm,” the Wall Street Journal editorial board criticized Biden for telling an unlikely story from a biased source but one that fits well with the progressive narrative , awarded its “Presidential Seal of Approval” cannot be confirmed.”
“The abortion debate is intense and passions run high,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote. “But the American people deserve better from their President than an unproven story designed to aggravate those passions.”
Earlier in the week, Yost told Fox News host Jesse Watters that his office had heard “no whispers” about the reported case of the 10-year-old victim. “We’re in regular contact with prosecutors, local police and the sheriffs — not a whisper anywhere,” Yost said Monday.
The attorney general doubled down on the USA Today network on Tuesday, saying, “Every day that goes by, the more likely it is that this is fake.”
Bernard, the doctor who first came up with the story, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When asked earlier in the week if there was any way to confirm her portrayal of the 10-year-old, she declined, saying, “The things you’re asking about are HIPAA violations.”
“I will not put anyone else in Fox’s line of fire,” she wrote in a text message to The Post.
BREAKING: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost says there is “no whisper” that a 10-year-old child was raped and impregnated, there was no request for crime lab results, and that Ohio’s heartbeat law would have allowed a girl that young getting an abortion in the state. pic.twitter.com/oIhJzNiq52
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 11, 2022
Yost first issued a one-sentence statement when announcing the arrest on Wednesday: “We rejoice every time a child rapist is taken off the street.” Yost expanded on the news in a statement to The Post.
“My heart aches for the pain this little child has endured. I am grateful for the hard work of the Columbus Police Department in obtaining a confession and taking a rapist off the street,” he said. “Justice must be served and BCI stands ready to assist law enforcement agencies across Ohio in putting these criminals behind bars.”
The statement did not address his previous statements.
Jordan, who called the story a “lie” in a now-deleted tweet on Tuesday, joined Yost in celebrating the arrest.
“Gershon Fuentes should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the congressman said wrote. Jordan also didn’t address his earlier comments that the case was a “lie.”
Abortions in patients under the age of 15 are extremely rare in the country. In 2019, 0.2 percent of reported abortions were performed on patients this young, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Huhn testified Wednesday that Fuentes admitted to having had sexual contact with the girl to detectives through an interpreter. The detective added that the girl also identified Fuentes as the man who got her pregnant.
During the prosecution hearing, prosecutor Meyer noted that the girl had only recently turned 10, the Dispatch reported — meaning her she may have been 9 years old when she was raped and made pregnant.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/13/abortion-girl-rape-victim-arrest-ohio/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_politics Gershon Fuentes is charged with the rape of a 10-year-old victim in Ohio who had an abortion in Indiana
