Republican Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita will investigate the doctor who helped a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio get an abortion.
Dr. Caitlin Bernard reportedly performed an abortion for the young girl, who was allegedly raped in Ohio by an illegal immigrant before crossing state lines into Indiana for the procedure. Rokita said on Fox News that his office would investigate Bernard for potentially failing to report the rape of a minor to law enforcement.
“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 not report, to intentionally not report,” he said. “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 an 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.”
Ohio began to enforce a heartbeat abortion ban after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but Indiana’s abortion ban doesn’t go into effect until a pregnancy reaches 22 weeks. The 10-year-old girl reportedly received the abortion at six weeks and three days. Fetal heartbeats are typically detected around six weeks into the pregnancy.
Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost maintains that the girl could have received an abortion in Ohio despite the ban, as it contains a provision for medical emergencies. Yost said Monday his office had no evidence that the rape of the girl had occurred as prosecutors had not been able to identify a report to law enforcement. (RELATED: Biden Admin Issues Guidance Reminding Pharmacists To Fill Abortion Pill Prescriptions)
Gershon Fuentes, 27, was arrested in Ohio on Tuesday and charged with felony rape. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson confirmed Fuentes is a Guatemalan in the U.S. illegally.