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Warning: This story discusses child sexual assault
A man from Ohio has been charged with raping and impregnating a 10-year-old girl who was denied an abortion in her own state, in a case that has shocked the US.
Gerson Fuentes, 27, faces charges of rape of a person under 13.
The incident was highlighted by US President Joe Biden as he signed legislation aimed at helping women seeking abortions.
A trigger law banning all abortions after six weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest, came into force in Ohio last month after the US Supreme Court ended decades of constitutional protection for the right to end a pregnancy.
The girl's ordeal of travelling to neighbouring Indiana for the medical procedure was mentioned as Biden signed reproductive right protections into law and urged Congress to codify Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that established the nationwide right to abortion. This would pass laws for the right to abortion under certain circumstances.
Biden said on July 8, noting the girl was six weeks pregnant: "Just last week, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim in Ohio – 10 years old – and she was forced to have to travel out of the state, to Indiana, to seek to terminate the pregnancy.
The horrific incident has been highlighted by US President Joe Biden. Photo / AP
A detective testified at an initial court appearance for the suspect that Columbus police learned about the girl's pregnancy after her mother alerted Franklin County Children Services on June 22, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
The victim was forced to travel to Indiana to secure an abortion because she was three days past Ohio's six-week limit, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest. The detective said the girl had an abortion in Indianapolis on June 30.
The detective said that DNA from the abortion clinic was being tested to confirm paternity. Police say Fuentes confessed to raping the girl. He was arrested on Tuesday and has not entered a plea.
It is understood that Fuentes is an undocumented migrant who is in the US illegally.
However, authorities in Indiana have now opened an investigation into Dr Caitlin Bernard, accusing her of not reporting the case to police, as state law requires in case of sex crimes involving minors.
Todd Rokita, the attorney general for Indiana, told Fox News: "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."
