Gershon Fuentes was charged with raping 10-year-old Ohio victim who had an abortion in Indiana
Columbus Police Detective Jeffrey Huhn testified the arrest was made after a referral from Franklin County Children Services, which contacted the girl’s mother on June 22, according to the arraignment video from WXIN- two days before the Supreme Court was overturned. Roe against Wade. The girl had an abortion at a clinic in Indianapolis on June 30, Huhn said.
The detective added that he was examining Fuentes’ DNA to confirm that he was the father of the aborted fetus, according to the video of the hearing.
If convicted, Fuentes will face life in prison.
Neither Clark Torbett, Fuentes’ attorney at the Franklin County Public Defender’s Office, nor a representative of Franklin County Children’s Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Dan Meyer told The Washington Post that the office’s policy is “not to comment on ongoing investigations.”
The story of the 10-year-old victim was first made public by Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis physician who provides abortion. In an Indianapolis Star article published July 1, Bernard said he 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 abortion is now banned in Ohio after six weeks. Ohio is among 13 states with “trigger bans” designed to take effect once Roe was hit. Ever since Dobbs decision, Ohio imposed a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with no exception for rape and incest. While performing an abortion before six weeks remains legal in Indiana, lawmakers are expected to meet this month to consider additional restrictions on abortion.
The story quickly received international attention. In a spirited speech on the future of abortion, Biden expressed anger at the reported case. “She was forced to travel out of state to Indiana to seek to end the pregnancy and possibly save her life,” Biden told the White House last week. “Ten years old – 10 years old! -raped, six weeks pregnant, traumatized, forced to travel to another state. ”
Shortly after Biden’s speech, Republicans expressed skepticism-including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Rep. Jim Jordan – in the story. In a Tuesday night op-ed titled, “An Abortion Story Too Good to Confirm,” the Wall Street Journal editorial board criticized Biden for giving his presidential seal of approval to an unlikely story from a bias source that fits well into the progressive narrative but cannot be confirmed. ”
“The abortion debate is intense and trends are rising,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote. “But American citizens deserve better from their President than an unproven story designed to exacerbate those passions.”
Earlier in the week, Yost told Fox News host Jesse Watters that his office had heard “not a whisper” about the 10-year-old victim’s reported case. “We have regular contact with prosecutors and local police and sheriffs – not a whisper anywhere,” Yost said Monday.
The attorney general doubled down on the USA Today network on Tuesday, saying, “With each passing day it’s more likely it’s a fabrication.”
Bernard, the doctor who first brought up the story, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When asked earlier in the week if there was a way to help prove his account about the 10-year-old, he refused, saying, “the things you’re asking for are HIPAA violations.”
“I’m not going to put anyone in Fox’s line of fire,” he wrote in a text message to The Post.
BREAKING: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said there was “no whisper” that a 10-year-old child was raped and pregnant, no request for crime lab results, and the heartbeat law of Ohio allowed such a girl to have an abortion in the state. pic.twitter.com/oIhJzNiq52
– Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 11, 2022
Yost first issued a sentence statement when announcing the arrest on Wednesday: “We are happy any time a young rapist is removed from the streets.” Yost expanded on the news in a statement to The Post.
“My heart aches for the pain this child is going through. I appreciate the diligent work of the Columbus Police Department in securing a confession and getting a rapist off the street, ”he said.“ Justice must be served and the BCI is ready to support law enforcement throughout Ohio that puts these criminals behind bars. “
The statement did not respond to his earlier statements.
Jordan, who called the story a “lie” on Tuesday in a tweet that has since been deleted, joined Yost in celebrating the arrest.
“Gershon Fuentes should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the congressman said wrote. Jordan also did not cite his earlier statements about the case as “lies.”
Abortions performed on patients under 15 years of age in the country are very rare. In 2019, 0.2 percent of reported abortions were performed on juvenile patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Huhn testified Wednesday that Fuentes admitted to detectives, through an interpreter, that he had sex with the woman. The detective added that the girl also identified Fuentes as the man who made her pregnant.
During the arraignment hearing, Meyer, the prosecutor, said the girl had recently turned 10 years old, the Dispatch reported – meaning she may have been 9 years old when she was raped and pregnant.
