A man from Columbus, Ohio was arrested on Tuesday on charges for raping a 10-year-old girl, according to an initial report from The Columbus Dispatch.
The girl got pregnant and was later denied an abortion in the state earlier this month due to an abortion prohibition after six weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. The girl was six weeks and three days pregnant.
Gerson Fuentes, 27, was charged with felony rape of a minor under 13. He confessed to police of raping the child at least twice, according to the Dispatch.
Fuentes is reportedly an illegal immigrant hailing from Guatemala, the Daily Beast reported, and is being held on a $2 million bond, according to the court and is being held at Franklin County jail. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on July 22.
The girl later had to cross state lines to Indiana to have the abortion days after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The girl officially underwent the procedure at the end of June in Indianapolis, according to Det. Jeffrey Huhn, who was at Fuentes's arraignment. DNA from the aborted fetus is being tested to confirm that Fuentes impregnated the girl.
Abortion in Indiana is illegal after 22 weeks.
Indiana’s Republican attorney general said last Wednesday that his office planned to investigate the doctor that helped the 10-year-old rape victim cross state lines, Politico reported.
Jim Jordan's false claims
Republican congressman Jim Jordan, representing Ohio's 4th congressional district, deleted a tweet on Wednesday which he called the story of the raped 10-year-old girl in his state getting an abortion "another lie," according to reports from Business Insider and The Independent shortly following Fuentes's arrest.
He initially said this in response to an article regarding a statement by the office of the state's Attorney-General Dave Yost that initially stated that there was no evidence to the rape charge. Yost stated after the arrest was made that his heart "aches for the pain suffered by this young child. I am grateful for the diligent work of the Columbus Police Department in securing a confession and getting a rapist off the street. We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets."
After deleting his first tweet, Jordan later wrote that Fuentes "should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Condemnations
US President Joe Biden said "imagine being that little girl" in a speech last Friday that condemned the Supreme Court ruling.
Regarding the Supreme Court's decision, the European Union Parliament also condemned the ruling to overturn Roe in a 324-155 vote with 38 abstentions, according to reports from ABC News and Axios. The parliament also called for safeguards to be enshrined in the EU's fundamental rights charter.
ABC cited Stéphane Séjourné, president of the parliament's Liberal Renew Europe, of stating that "the United States has clearly shown why we must use every tool available to safeguard abortion rights in the European Union."