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‘Cruel consequences,' says Biden as 10-yr-old rape survivor travels for abortion
Ohio had passed a law in 2019 restricting all abortions after six weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest. After the US Supreme Court ruling, state lawmakers swiftly ensured that law would take effect.
A 10-year-old rape survivor had to travel from Ohio in the United States to Indiana for a medical abortion after she got pregnant due to a near-total ban on abortion, news agency AFP reported citing police officials. A 27-year-old suspect has been taken into custody by the law enforcement officers in the rape case.
The incident has reignited the US abortion ban debate and drawn everyone’s attention to the US Supreme Court ruling last month striking down Roe v. Wade. President Joe Biden pointed to the incident as evidence of the ‘cruel consequences’ of the court's decision. "Just imagine being that little girl," Bidem said, slamming the US Supreme Court ruling. "Ten years old… raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, was forced to travel to another state," the US president was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.
Biden had previously said that court had not banned travel of women to states where abortion is legal, and he would do all that was within his power to ensure that the right of women to travel, to access medication, contraception was protected.
Ohio had passed a law in 2019 restricting all abortions after six weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest. After the US Supreme Court ruling, state lawmakers swiftly ensured that law would take effect. Apart from Ohio,13 other US states have also passed trigger laws to ban abortion, in some states even in the case of rape. The procedure still is legal in Indiana for now, however, the medical service providers have warned of an uncertain future.
Meanwhile, US states governed by Democrats are offering support to women who wish to travel abroad for abortion. The governors of California, Washington and Oregon on the US' west coast issued a joint 'multi-state commitment' to work together to defend patients and care providers, the Associated Press reported.
On June 25, the United States Supreme Court struck down the historic Roe v Wade judgment that had institutionalised abortion-related protections in the country. S per the verdict, women in America no longer have the fundamental right to seek an abortion.
