Man charged in rape of girl who had to travel for abortion

A 27-year-old man was arraigned Wednesday in Ohio on charges of twice raping a 10-year-old girl whose case drew international attention following a news report that the child had to travel to Indiana for an abortion because of new restrictions in her home state of Ohio after the Supreme Court's recent ruling overturning a constitutional right to an abortion.

Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arrested Tuesday according to court filings, after he confessed to raping the child, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported. He was charged with rape of a minor, which is a felony in Ohio punishable by life imprisonment. Fuentes is being held in a county jail on a $2 million bond.

The officer who arrested Fuentes said during his arraignment that the girl underwent an abortion in Indiana on June 30, according to the Dispatch. A detective testified that DNA from the clinic the girl went to in Indianapolis is being tested against samples from Fuentes to confirm his paternity, according to the Dispatch.

Columbus Police Detective Jeffrey Huhn testified that the arrest was made after a referral from Franklin County Children Services, which had been in touch with the girl's mother on June 22 — two days before the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade. The girl had an abortion at an Indianapolis clinic on June 30, Huhn said.

A statewide ban on abortions in Ohio after the sixth week of pregnancy — before many women are aware they are pregnant — went into effect just hours after the Supreme Court's June 24 ruling that struck down Roe vs Wade, the 1973 decision that had established a constitutional right to abortion. The law bans abortion past six weeks had taken effect, and doesn't have an exception for rape.

The arrest and arraignment came days after Democratic President Joe Biden highlighted a July 1 story by the Indianapolis Star about the child's case.

The Star story went viral around the world and became a top talking point for abortion rights supporters.

It also sparked questions about its validity and was questioned by news outlets, with some anti-abortion advocates and Republican officials, including Ohio's Republican governor and attorney general, expressing doubts that the 10-year-old's case was true.

Biden referenced the news story on Friday during remarks he gave alongside signing an executive order to try to protect abortion rights in response to the overturning of Roe vs Wade by the high court.

"Raped, six weeks pregnant. Already traumatized. Was forced to travel to another state. Imagine being that little girl," Biden said.

Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler said the story referred to by Biden was "very difficult" to verify.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said on Fox News on Monday that he hadn't heard "a whisper" from law enforcement in Ohio about any reports or arrests made in connection with such a case. Yost suggested later in the interview that the young rape victim would have met the Ohio "heartbeat" abortion ban's exception for medical emergencies.

He defended his comments in an interview with the USA Today Network Ohio bureau on Tuesday, saying that each passing day makes the story more likely a "fabrication" and "there is not a damn scintilla of evidence" to suggest the account was true.

On Twitter, Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said the story was "fake to begin with".

On Tuesday, a Wall Street Journal editorial — with the headline "Abortion Story Too Good to Confirm" — described the report as "fanciful'' and criticized Biden for mentioning it, saying, "The abortion debate is intense and passions run high. But the American people deserve better from their President than an unproven story designed to aggravate those passions.''

On Wednesday, the Journal posted online an editor's note atop its editorial that the Ohio man has been charged with raping the child.

After the arrest was made, Yost posted a statement on Twitter, saying his heart "aches" for the child's suffering and he is grateful to Columbus police for securing a confession and taking a rapist off the streets.