Man accused of raping Ohio girl who was forced to travel out of state for abortion is indicted

The man accused of raping a 10-year-old girl who had to travel from Ohio to Indiana for an abortion has now been indicted.

Gerson Fuentes, 27, appeared in a court in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday where he was indicted on two counts of felony rape.

He was arrested on 12 July following the alleged rape of a child who travelled to Indiana for an abortion on 30 June.

Mr Fuentes, who has been held in a Columbus jail since his arrest, allegedly told a police officer that he raped the child on two occasions, although the timing and circumstances were unclear.

While he has not entered a plea, the indictment filed in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas said the victim was aged nine when the alleged rapes happened. No further details were released.

A police officer told the court last week that Mr Fuentes admitted to raping the 10-year-old on two occasions following his arrest, which came after weeks of scrunity about the story.

The case made headlines after an Indiana doctor, Dr Caitlin Bernard, told the Indianopolis Star on 1 July that she had performed an abortion on the 10-year-old child.

Ohio’s abortion laws do not have exceptions for cases of incest and rape or those involving minors.

Fox News host Jesse Watters had been among those to rubbish the story earlier this month and described the claims asyear-old-b2123618.html” data-ylk=”slk:a “hoax”” class=”link “> a “hoax” created by the “mainstream media” and Democrats to stoke backlash against the Supreme Court.

Ohio’s so-called “heartbeat” bill, which forbids abortions after the six week mark, was introduced in the hours after the Supreme Court ruling to overturn abortion rights guaranteed by the decision in Roe v Wade on 24 June.

Mr Fuemtes is due to appear again in court on Monday where he is expected to be arraigned on new charges.

According to court records he has not entered a plea. Nor was it clear if he had a lawyer.

Additional reporting by Reuters