Ohio Man Charged With Raping 10-Year-Old Girl Who Was Denied Abortion
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
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A man in Ohio was arrested Tuesday and charged with raping a 10-year-old girl who was impregnated and then denied an abortion under state law, forcing her to travel out of state, a case that gained widespread attention in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade—and one which some on the right doubted was a real case.
Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested by Columbus, Ohio, police and charged with a felony offense for raping the 10-year-old girl, the Columbus Dispatch first reported Wednesday and prison records confirm.
Fuentes confessed to raping the young girl “on at least two occaisons,” the Dispatch reports, and bond has been set at $2 million.
The 10-year-old was denied an abortion in Ohio under the state’s six-week abortion ban , the Indianapolis Star first reported —as the law does not have an exception for rape—and ultimately had an abortion in Indiana using medication on June 30, the Dispatch reports.
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Seems a lot of fussy words have been spilt over this and some will have to dine on raw crow.
Thank you for posting the TRUTH about the unfortunate 10 yr old who was raped and got an out of state abortion.
Here is a seedy post (yep, Fox was the source) from a right winger:
The comments are amusing and slowly evolve into total BS because they want to avoid the truth.
It's amazing that Fox still finds a way to blame Biden because he told the truth about this horrific episode.
My heart goes out to the little girl who was raped first by Gerson Fuentes and then raped multiple times by Fox and other right wing "news" outlets.
That's the way all those 'articles' go. They also claimed that it was getting no coverage other than NT. Or that somehow it was a lie? It's so confusing on the dark side.
I try to avoid those 'articles' except to spread the truth from time to time.
The truth was that girl could have received an abortion in Ohio if it was reported in time.
Some folks don't know what the truth is. Truth isn't allowed on those 'articles' and those truthful comments are removed.
Let’s split ‘documents’ - it seems Fuentes doesn’t have any. Who let him in and why?
Sounds like you have someone in mind to blame.
That’s a question. ‘Who was the doorkeeper?’ is another. ‘Why was only the ‘effects’ half of this story brought to light?’ is looking for an answer too.
Was there one? From what I have read the perpetrator was illegally in country by 2015. Unraveling from then to now to cast/divert blame would be akin to being a dog that chases parked cars.
Yes.....I am one who felt the story was bullshit. It still makes no sense, if this little girl was raped on or about May 17th, why are they just arresting this guy July 12? It doesn't appear to have been reported at all, until the child services agency called the cops.
Ohio's attorney general dismissed the story of a 10-year-old child who sought an abortion after being raped. Days later, he
celebrated a suspect's arrest in the case.
From the article:
On Twitter, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said the story was "fake to begin with." The Wall Street Journal's editorial board described it as "fanciful." Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told Fox News his office had not heard a "whisper" about the situation despite media reports.
In a later interview with USA Today, he said there was "not a damn scintilla of evidence" about the case and that it was a likely "fabrication."
What a group of dimwits, Noem and Yost, dumb and dumber.
Alas the CoC prevents us from fleshing out that list of dumb and dumber.
They know who they are. LMAO
“Alas the CoC prevents us from fleshing out that list of dumb and dumber.”
Ah…but the overwhelming desire to defend the indefensible will expose them to be exactly what they were, are, and will be…apologists, parrots, and simpletons (not necessarily in any order).
Examples surely to follow.
[deleted]
That never stopped you before.
Would you like 6 weeks to flesh that out?
For your Info the Editorial Board has updated their opinion that now that the facts finally began to emerge yesterday:
Even your fucking Washington Post couldn't confirm it.
Yet, your Wall Street Journal printed their wishful thinking without any proof, typical of RW morons like the AJ and Noem all with their foot in their mouth. Perhaps you can defend their stupidity as well.
News stories need verification. The reporter who wrote it wouldn't answer questions.
Republican AG says he'll investigate Indiana doctor who provided care to 10-year-old rape victim
Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Indianapolis, has told multiple outlets that she provided care to the 10-year-old after a child abuse doctor in Ohio contacted her. The child was six weeks and three days into the pregnancy, Bernard said. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month , a wave of state-level abortion restrictions took effect, including in Ohio, a state that bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
“We’re gathering the evidence as we speak, and we’re going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure if she failed to report. And in Indiana it’s a crime … to intentionally not report,” state Attorney General Todd Rokita said on Fox News on Wednesday night. “This is a child, and there’s a strong public interest in understanding if someone under the age of 16 or under the age of 18 or really any woman is having abortion in our state. And then if a child is being sexually abused, of course parents need to know. Authorities need to know. Public policy experts need to know.”
Abortion in Indiana is banned after 22 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions for medical emergencies. There are strict reporting requirements in both Ohio and Indiana for abortions and rape allegations.
Ohio’s Republican attorney general, Dave Yost, said on Fox News Monday that there was no evidence of a report being filed for the 10-year-old's case.
The account about the young girl has garnered national attention amid the fall of the constitutional right to abortion in the United States — and has become a key focus of the abortion debate. The account sparked intense dialogue in Washington, with some questioning the story’s validity, particularly after President Joe Biden cited the episode last week while slamming the court’s decision in a major speech on abortion policy.
“She was forced to have to travel out of the state to Indiana to seek to terminate the pregnancy and maybe save her life,” Biden said in remarks at the White House last week. “Ten years old — 10 years old! — raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, was forced to travel to another state.”
The speculation stopped on Wednesday when Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested and charged with the rape of the girl, a felony of the first degree in Ohio. Police say he confessed to raping the child at least twice. The Columbus Dispatch first reported the arrest .
The clean-up followed shortly after the news of the arrest. Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan deleted a tweet in which he had called the story “another lie.” The Wall Street Journal editorial page had to walk back on an editorial titled “An Abortion Story Too Good To Confirm” that called the case a “fanciful” tale. And Yost, who originally cast doubt on the story, tweeted on Wednesday that his “heart aches” for the child and that he was grateful for the arrest — not acknowledging his previous skepticism.
Even before Biden used the example in his remarks, the case was already receiving significant attention. The Indianapolis Star reported on July 1 that Bernard received a call from a child abuse doctor in Ohio three days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe . Bernard put out her own statement on Wednesday night.
“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,” Bernard wrote on Twitter. “Doctors must be able to give people the medical care they need, when and where they need it.”
Aside from Rokita’s warning, it’s not yet clear whether Indiana will actually prosecute Bernard. But abortion rights activists and legal experts have been warning for weeks of the unprecedented legal risks doctors face in the wake of Roe’s fall.
An AG is investigating an Indiana physician for performing a medical procedure that is legal in Indiana for a patient from Ohio?
So he's telling us this isn't about states' rights at all?
Never was Imo. That has just been one excuse.
One of many because they know they can't just come out and say their religious indoctrination made them believe that a tiny magical invisible soul in created as soon as the sperm fertilizes an egg. Thus they are compelled to force their religious beliefs on others in order to save those tiny magical invisible souls that have never been proven to exist but in their indoctrinated minds are more important than the life of the woman carrying the fertilized egg. It's much easier to just argue States rights than to admit they're trying to force their religious beliefs into the law of the land contrary to the constitutions establishment clause.
We already know these religious extremists were willing to do anything to further their religious beliefs and agenda as we've seen many doctors and clinics attacked, threatened, shot and bombed. Lying and obfuscating their their true motives should be expected since they clearly believe the ends justify the means.
National Right to Life official: 10-year-old should have had baby
Bopp, the National Right to Life Committee’s general counsel, said his law only provides exceptions when the pregnant person’s life is in danger.
“She would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child,” Bopp said in a phone interview on Thursday.
The story of the 10-year old rape victim forced to leave her home state to terminate a pregnancy has sparked a national conversation over the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and how far some states are willing to go to prohibit abortions.
The Columbus Dispatch reported on Wednesday that a 27-year-old man was charged with rape in connection with the case.
While Bopp’s model legislation , which was released in advance of the Supreme Court’s ruling late last month, encourages states to ban all abortions unless necessary to save the life of the pregnant person, it notes “it may be necessary in certain states to have additional exceptions, such as for a women pregnant as a result of rape or incest.”
“Unless her life was at danger, there is no exception for rape,” Bopp said. “The bill does propose exceptions for rape and incest, in my model, because that is a pro-life position, but it’s not our ideal position. We don’t think, as heartwrenching as those circumstances are, we don’t think we should devalue the life of the baby because of the sins of the father.”
These people are freaking nuts.
Or is it evil?
I opt for the latter
Or is it both?
They're all fucking lying hypocrites. Or just liars. Or fucking evil lying hypocrites.
I don’t understand why. Abortion is legal in Indiana and everything I have read indicates that this pregnancy was ended well before the state’s 22-week deadline. You can’t just go investigating people for no (legal) reason.
Pandering.
IOIYAR
Evidently in Indiana you most report an abortion of a minor who was raped.
Which the doctor did.
The AG is pandering, and is making dishonest insinuations to do it.
Good! So can we agree his victim deserves privacy?
Are you now critical of the initial Indianapolis newspaper article?
Dumb and dumber Biden spread the story for political points before verifying it.
But the Dems can't let a crisis or tragic story go to waste.
Can you name a political party that does? Take your crocodile tears elsewhere.
Somebody doesn't know how HIPPA Laws work!!!!
There are multiple aspects to this story with perhaps more to come.
First, there is the horror of rape, multiple rape, and pregnancy of a fourth or fifth grade girl.
Second is the journalistic integrity rules on story confirmation.
Third is the rush to politicize this by both sides. We have an obstetrician/gynecologist who saw a great opportunity to advocate for abortion rights by bringing the story to national attention. The President saw an opportunity after being criticized for responding to slowly and weakly to the Dobbs decision. At the same time, we had anti-abortion advocates, to include the Ohio Attorney General, going national with calls that this is a hoax, a made up story.
They made her and her horrific tragedy a pawn for political points. Given the national attention and what will be a media covered rape trial now that the accused is identified, I'll be very surprised if this child identity remains anonymous. We will likely know who she is and she will one day understand that not only was she raped by a monster, she was a used as pawn by both sides.
Here is the problem: The state of Ohio would have allowed this abortion had it been reported within a certain time line. Evidently that time line was missed by a few days. The person telling the story wanted to leave that out. It sounded so much better to simply say the girl was forced to go to another state.
Never let a tragedy go to waste and if the story can be made more powerful, do it.
Here is the other problem, you jumped at the flimsiest of chances to cast aspersions ... it's what you do on a daily basis.
You mean like when your side questioned whether the rapist was an illegal alien?
That has been confirmed
They ran with it.
Quick biology lesson:
Many grown women who are pregnant are not aware of it at 6 weeks. Girls who are just starting their periods are very likely to have irregular periods, which means that tracking periods is a lousy way for them to know if they're pregnant.
This irregularity can last for years.
And the people who wrote the Ohio law know this. This law was designed to prevent abortions by making them impossible to get before the deadline. They want to ban abortions, but want to be able to point to exceptions that are of no practical use to women and girls in need of an abortion. They want to BE draconian without LOOKING draconian.
You may have a point Sandy. In that case the Ohio law would be devious (is that the word?)
... and I can confirm I am not Kavika.
I can confirm that I am Kavika. Vic seems to lose track of things from time to time. LOL
And we have dumb asses defending this ignorant law.
As do I. I have a Post-It note on top of my head to remind me my glasses are up there and I keep forgetting where the note is ... fun times!
If we’re really talking about a few days, that says a lot about how cold the hearts of some lawmakers are in this country.
In these faux crisis centers they will deny an abortion 1 day after their window closes.
Cold?
How about evil?
That's the point of the window. What part of that are you having problems understanding?
The window is being purposely made too short for access to abortion services to be practical for many women, as I explained above. Gestational age is determined from the first day of a woman's (or in this case, little girl's) last period. Many women, adolescents in particular, have irregular periods. For them, a late period might not even raise suspicion of pregnancy, because it's not out of the ordinary. And even with a normal, 28-day cycle (which even regular women may not have), by the date of the first missed period, the pregnancy is 4 weeks along.
So now there are 2 weeks to recognize pregnancy and seek abortion. Now, take into account that many abortion clinics are closing, so it's hard to get an appointment. It's easy to go past that 6-week window.
The 6-week window is designed to give the appearance of not being heartless, while actually being heartless.
I'm pretty sure everybody here understands that.
You can lead people to the truth but you can't make them think
your statements deserve an exclamation point, cause some can't get a period,
on a regular interval, and this should cause many to question the mark, that this now forced rush to judgement, needlessly applied, will leave, for they should do just that. LEAVE themselves OUT of a WOMENS RIGHT TO CHOOSE !....!
It should. But some are just going to bury their heads in the sand and convince themselves that they did all they could to keep that poor little girl from being forced to undergo pregnancy and birth, but gosh darn it, she should have either kept her legs closed or driven herself to an abortion clinic as soon as her rapist got off of her. The little hussy just pushed the envelope, and this is what she gets.
Please tell me the sarc tag is not needed.
a sarc tag is not needed, besides, if the little girl really needed more time to decide after mommy figured out she was now pregnant(many actually of consenting age as you mentioned, don't know until around 6 weeks in)she should have travelled to another state with better time frames for scheduling the procedure to undo another's wrong doing, Before she was Raped! WTH are ten year olds thinking these days...? Don't they comprehend they need to plan ahead for unscheduled rapes ? Cause that is what my take off is on the overturning of Roe vs Wade. Men should stay the FCK out of the decision, and Little Girls, (FCKN SCUMBAG)
Looks like that is a problem with those who set the window limitations. I'm guessing elected officials at the state level. Seems people are starting to have voter remorse for electing garbage.
6 weeks is not a window, not even long enough to call it a vent
I agree. But that needs to be taken up with the right agencies. Like I said, probably elected officials at the state level.
I don't know what part of that people don't understand
Coddled, they are. Conservatives are just teaching them to be more responsible for the sins of their attackers.
They need to be more like Jesus
The same people who would enforce a hard deadline on abortion are the same people who would bitch if they got a speeding ticket for going a couple mph over the limit.
What doctor wouldn't have fudged three days given the gravity of the events? It's pretty clear the issue was, (correctly) forced into the open for academics' sake. These dingbats need to keep the kid's needs paramount.
That reads like you're saying conservatives are garbage. That's a switch.
Not one that wants to keep his certifications and stay out of jail.
Did I mention conservatives or progressives? No. Your imagination is getting the better of you.
Who passed these laws, Jeremy? You're surely not going to claim it was anybody other than conservatives. That would be disingenuous.
Again, I didn't make a distinction between conservatives or progressives. You made the assumption that I did. Don't get all pissy that I won't follow your narrative. Not that it's my problem.
Sure, sure, Jeremy. Backpedal. You're the one who brought up voter remorse over abortion laws. We all know who passed those laws, even if you don't want to acknowledge the implications of your words.
No backpedaling. You should work on your comprehension skills.
Yes, I did. I also made no distinction between conservatives or progressives.
We do. Elected officials from both sides. Just because you don't want to acknowledge this isn't my problem. That's something for you to work out yourself.
There are none. The fact that you are over thinking it isn't my problem.
That is disingenuous.
You slipped, called those who usually have your wholehearted support "garbage", and now wish everyone to believe you didn't. You got caught in your own web. Watching you attempt to disentangle yourself is amusing.
That is disingenuous.
Cry about it all you want. Get as pissed as you want. The only person who made a distinction was you trying to make my statement one sided. It's not my problem.
Nobody's crying here, Jeremy. Nobody's pissed. Except maybe you, because people noticed you stepped in your own shit.
First, lets not forget that its conservative Republicans who forced this child and her parents to leave their State for urgent medical care and treatment. Without their pushing to overturn settled precedent or writing State laws that ban abortion we would never have heard about this case, this poor child would be just another anonymous number among the thousands of child victims of sexual assault which occur every year in Ohio and in every other State.
Second, how could anyone consider the two political sides anywhere near equal when one is grieving for the victim and outraged at the additional trauma this child had to go through by having to flee the State to get proper care while the other was dismissing and refusing to believe that her story was even valid or real. Now those dismissive doubters are deflecting and excusing their heartless deplorable ideology which has often blamed the victim, blamed the woman and doubt the stories that are inconvenient for their extremist religious beliefs.
Her identity hasn't been revealed, but you're right, because conservative Republicans have created this crisis there will likely be tens of thousands of rape victims who may have to step forward to prove to the conservative religious extremists that they do exist, that they are victims and that conservative religious extremist beliefs being forced on everyone else in society is harming them and victimizing them a second time.
With Roe in place ,not a single religious conservative was ever forced to get an abortion. If your religious belief was that abortion is a sin, no one was forcing them to sin. Perhaps if those conservative religious extremists spent the same amount of time and effort fighting against sexual assault and rape as they did fighting against abortion rights they might actually be helping reduce the number of victims instead of fucking them without their consent a second time.
Republicans shocked a 10-year-old can get pregnant after Ohio rape victim abortion story proves true
The case made international headlines after President Joe Biden decried Republican policies that forced the "already traumatized" child to have to travel out of state to terminate the pregnancy. Republicans and right-wing media criticized Biden, suggesting the case had been fabricated, only for a suspect to be arrested days later.
Confronted with the reality of the case, GOP lawmakers interviewed Thursday appeared to be grappling with how to respond — from confusion to blaming the media.
Many expressed shock that it was even biologically possible for the 10-year-old child to become pregnant. Some said they were torn “morally” about whether abortions should be allowed in cases of incest or rape, as in the Ohio case. And others tried to turn the conversation to the undocumented immigrant who prosecutors allege raped the girl.
“I’m amazed a 10-year-old got pregnant. … You really wrestle with that. That’s a tough one,” Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, said Thursday.
Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., said, “I can’t imagine being 10 years old” and pregnant, adding: “I don’t think I was even able to have children when I was 10 years old. … It’s just awful. It’s awful all the way around.”
Said Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas: “I’m a pro-life guy, OK? And God’s in charge on this. ... We're all God's children. This is a tough call, and I don’t know if I know that answer right now, because now you’ve got another baby involved: She’s pregnant. … She’s a baby.”
Just days earlier, several high-profile Republicans said the story was fake, using it to accuse Democrats of overreach in their response to the Supreme Court's ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, said the story was likely to be a “fabrication.” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tweeted “Another lie. Anyone surprised?” in response to a Washington Examiner story about Yost’s saying he had found no evidence of the young rape victim.
Jordan quietly deleted the tweet Wednesday after prosecutors charged Gershon Fuentes, 27, who court documents say confessed to the rape.
Asked whether he regretted calling the story a lie, Jordan blamed Fuentes, an undocumented immigrant, and the news media.
“We didn’t know that an illegal alien did this heinous act. We never doubted the child,” Jordan said. The lie was “the news headline … the headline from your profession. We doubted Joe Biden, which is usually a smart thing to do, but we didn’t know that this illegal immigrant had done this terrible thing. He should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Williams, who represents the border state of Texas, said: “Where’s the conversation about an illegal person doing this? How do you defend this? How do you defend this guy who came over illegally, and we’ve got 5 million of them over here?”
Biden and White House officials had read about the case in The Indianapolis Star , which first reported the girl's story on July 1. That story quoted Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis OB-GYN, who said she got a call from an Ohio doctor specializing in child abuse who had a 10-year-old patient who was six weeks pregnant. Because Ohio made abortions after six weeks illegal in the wake of the Roe decision, the girl had to travel.
Biden said in his speech about protecting abortion access last week: “She was forced to have to travel out of the state to Indiana to seek to terminate the pregnancy and maybe save her life. Ten years old — 10 years old — raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, was forced to travel to another state.”
The case touches on several hot-button issues being debated by policymakers in Washington and in state capitals around the country: abortion rights, immigration and interstate travel.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican former member of Congress, said he is investigating the Indianapolis doctor who performed the abortion.
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., one of the leading voices in Congress in favor of abortion rights, said: “This is a case that will have to be challenged in court by those who support abortion rights. I am looking out for the welfare of this child. No 10-year-old should have to even undergo such a procedure, but then to have to go out of state to do it is cruel beyond belief.”
The House will vote Friday on Chu’s bill that would restore the right to an abortion, as well as another bill to protect Americans who travel to receive reproductive health care. Neither has enough support in the Senate.
Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., who opposes abortion rights, said the 10-year-old’s situation represents “a high-profile kind of case describing why something might need to be done” about the issue of abortion statewide in Indiana.
“I’m going to wait to see what my state actually puts into legislation, probably, before I comment on any of that,” he said. “I’m just glad it’s going back to the states.”
Lesko, a former state legislator who is a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said she backs an exception for abortion when the mother’s life is at risk. But she said she is undecided about whether exceptions should be granted in cases of rape or incest.
“This is obviously a very difficult moral question. And so I struggle with it, quite frankly,” Lesko said of the Ohio case. “I have a close friend who was raped and had the baby and has told me that she is thankful every day that — she was a minor, and she decided to have the child, because it’s a blessing. …
“Obviously, I feel awful for the 10-year-old. … I am more in favor of definitely the life of the mother, and I’m still morally struggling over the other ones.”
Gibbs, the House member from Ohio, argued that technological advances since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision show that “a fetus is a human being.”
But Gibbs also wondered whether the Ohio girl’s life could have been endangered had she carried out the pregnancy. Like Lesko, he backs exceptions for abortions when mothers’ lives are at risk.
“First you have to ask the question, since she’s 10 years old and be able to go full term with the pregnancy, would her life be in danger? I don’t know. There are medical questions there because of her age — I’m just raising it as a thought,” Gibbs said in an interview.
“In this case, if there was going to be an abortion, there would have to be a medical need on behalf of the 10-year-old mother," he added.
Moderate GOP Rep. David Joyce of Ohio said the case of the 10-year-old girl is tragic but straightforward: She had a right to get an abortion given the horrible circumstances.
“It’s always been my position that, as a former prosecutor, in instances of rape, incest or mother’s health that there should be exceptions to the rule,” Joyce said. “While I’m pro-life, I understand that I couldn’t fathom having to carry a baby to term in which we were the victim of rape.”