The rape of a girl fuels the debate on abortion in the US

The case of an Ohio man who was accused of raping a 10-year-old girl who had to travel to another state, Indiana, to have an abortion has ignited debate, just weeks after the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that in practice restricts the right to abortion by overturning the Roe Vs Wade ruling that protected this practice at the federal level for decades.

The following list of facts explains what happened:

Court records indicate that the girl had to travel to Indianapolis from Ohio to have an abortion. The 27-year-old suspect was arrested and police said they learned of the case because the minor’s mother notified Franklin County Children’s Services, in that state, on June 22.

The visit of the minor to the abortion care clinic occurs just when a week ago the president of the United States, Joe Biden, promulgated a decree that protects doctors and owners of health centers against the harsh laws that some very conservative states have adopted in recent weeks.

The girl was finally able to abort in Indianapolis on June 30.

The newspaper The Indianapolis Star cited Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who said that she had to perform the procedure because the minor was unable to do so in Ohio due to the recently imposed ban in that state under the prerogative known as “first heartbeat”, which prohibits the interruption of pregnancy around six weeks, when many women still do not know their status.

A detective appeared to testify Wednesday at an initial appearance in court prosecuting the possible rapist in Columbus, Ohio, and said DNA from the Indianapolis clinic was being analyzed to confirm paternity.

The man against whom charges have already been filedhas not yet pleaded guilty.

The controversy escalated further after the statements of the Republican attorney general of Ohio, Dave Yost, who questioned the veracity of the case on Monday by assuring in foxnews that he had not heard anything from law enforcement in that state about any arrests in this regard.

“This young lady, if she exists and if something horrible happened to her – it breaks my heart to think about it – she wouldn’t have had to leave Ohio to find treatment,” he said. But two days later, prosecutor Yost said in a statement that the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation is ready to help prosecute the case, without mentioning his earlier suggestions about the authenticity of the case.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, called the crime a tragedy. “He has said that if the evidence supports it, the rapist should spend the rest of his life in prison,” said DeWine’s spokesman, Dan Tierney.

In 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Bernard, the doctor in the 10-year-old girl’s case, challenging a law passed by the Republican-dominated Indiana Legislature that largely prohibited measure an abortion procedure in the second trimester of pregnancy, which the legislation calls “dismemberment abortion”.

The law first went into effect last week after a federal judge lifted an injunction blocking it, after the decision of the Supreme Court to nullify Roe Vs Wade.

_{*With AP information. The AP agency generally does not identify sexual assault victims and, for now, is not naming the suspect to avoid identifying the girl.}

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.