Jordan deleted a tweet calling a story about a 10-year-old girl who was raped in Ohio a "lie."
The Ohio Republican deleted the message after a man was charged with rape in connection to the case.
The girl's case has drawn national prominence since it was first reported.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan deleted a tweet on Wednesday in which he called the story of a 10-year-old Ohio girl receiving an abortion after being raped "another lie" following the arrest of a man in connection with the case.
"Another lie. Anyone surprised?" Jordan, an Ohio Republican, wrote on Twitter in a message on his official account that quoted a story about Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office initially saying it had not found any evidence to support the rape charge.
The case received national attention and President Joe Biden mentioned it during a major speech about abortion policy in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
While some news outlets initially had difficulty confirming the story, Yost, Jordan, and a host of conservative commentators questioned the account — some even claimed that it was simply made up.
On Wednesday, authorities charged Gershon Fuentes, 27, with rape, news that was first reported by The Columbus Post Dispatch. Law enforcement said that Fuentes admitted to raping the child on two occasions. DNA from the aborted fetus is also being tested to confirm if Fuentes forcibly impregnated the girl. The girl reportedly traveled to Indiana to receive the abortion at six weeks of pregnancy because of Ohio's new abortion laws.
A spokesperson for Jordan declined to comment, but pointed to a new tweet in which the lawmaker called for Fuentes to "be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The deletion of the tweet was confirmed by ProPublica's Politwoops, which archives politicians' deleted tweets.
Yost celebrated the news of the arrest after previously going on Fox News to question the Indianapolis Star's early reporting on the case.
"We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets," Yost told the Post Dispatch. He previously told Fox that there had not been a "whisper" about such a rape occurring.
The case received significant attention following Roe's reversal and Ohio's ban on nearly all abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy went into effect. The Star was reporting on the growing number of Ohioians who were venturing across state lines to obtain abortions.
An eight-term congressman, Jordan is the top Republican on the powerful House Judiciary Committee. If Republicans retake the chamber in November, he is in line to chair a powerful panel.
Ohio's attorney general dismissed the story of a 10-year-old child who sought an abortion after being raped. Days later, he celebrated a suspect's arrest in the case.
An Ohio man was arrested on charges of raping a 10-year-old girl who later needed an abortion.
Ohio's Republican attorney general, David Yost, had dismissed the story as a likely "fabrication."
Following the alleged rapist's arraignment Wednesday, Yost celebrated the arrest.
An Ohio man was arrested Tuesday after confessing to raping a 10-year-old girl on at least two occasions, according to Columbus police, which led to the girl becoming impregnated and traveling to another state for an abortion.
The arrest and rape charges against the man, 27-year-old Gershon Fuentes, were first reported by the Columbus Dispatch.
The story of the 10-year-old traveling to Indiana for an abortion drew widespread attention earlier this month as an example of the effects of Ohio's strict abortion laws.
Following the Supreme Court's decision in June that revoked the nationwide right to an abortion, an Ohio law banning abortion past six weeks took effect. The law does not have an exception for rape. Dr. Caitlin Bernard told the Indianapolis Star that the girl was six weeks and three days pregnant when she took her on as a patient and performed the abortion.
But some Republican officials and conservative commentators cast doubt earlier this month that the story was true at all.
On Twitter, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said the story was "fake to begin with." The Wall Street Journal's editorial board described it as "fanciful." Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told Fox News his office had not heard a "whisper" about the situation despite media reports.
In a later interview with USA Today, he said there was "not a damn scintilla of evidence" about the case and that it was a likely "fabrication."
But on Wednesday, following Fuentes's arraignment, Yost celebrated the arrest.
"We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets," he told the Columbus Dispatch.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, the girl's mother informed Franklin County Children Services about the pregnancy, and the agency informed Columbus police. The abortion was performed on June 30, according to police testimony at the Wednesday arraignment hearing.
A judge set Fuentes's bond at $2 million, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Indiana has received an influx of abortion patients after Ohio and Kentucky passed restrictions on the procedure, according to the Indianapolis Star. The state's Republican-dominated legislature has scheduled a session for later in July to discuss passing new abortion laws.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Rape of 10-year-old jolts US abortion debate
Published July 14, 2022
RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA - JULY 12: A billboard reads, 'Welcome to California where abortion is safe and still legal' on July 12, 2022 in Rancho Mirage, California. The billboard was paid for by Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest. The number of patients from outside states increased 900 percent at Planned Parenthood clinics in San Bernardino and Orange counties the week following the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case. The decision overturned the landmark 50-year-old Roe v Wade case and erased a federal right to an abortion.
Ohio police have confirmed a 10-year-old rape victim crossed state lines to terminate her pregnancy, local media reported Wednesday, in a case drawing broad attention after the US Supreme Court overturned a federal right to abortion.
The girl's ordeal of travelling to neighboring Indiana for the medical procedure was highlighted by President Joe Biden recently 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 nation's high court ended decades of constitutional protection for the right to end a pregnancy.
The shocking case was questioned by conservative-leaning media outlets and Ohio's attorney general, who cast doubt on the story's veracity.
But Columbus, Ohio police detective Jeffrey Huhn testified in court early Wednesday that the unidentified girl underwent an abortion in Indianapolis on June 30, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
According to the paper, Huhn was testifying at the arraignment of a man arrested Tuesday by police who say he confessed to raping the child.
Huhn also told the court that DNA samples obtained from the Indiana clinic were being tested against the 27-year-old suspect, the Dispatch said.
Franklin County, Ohio court documents confirm that a Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of rape of a person under 13.
The disturbing story, first reported by the Indianapolis Star, has drawn international scrutiny and become a flashpoint in the deeply divisive issue of abortion rights in America.
Biden spoke of the Ohio rape victim during a July 8 ceremony where he signed reproductive right protections into law and urged Congress to codify Row v Wade, the 1973 ruling that established the nationwide right to abortion.
"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," Biden said, noting the girl was six weeks pregnant.
"Just imagine being that little girl."
Reversing course
The Wall Street Journal's editorial board criticized Biden Tuesday for giving his "presidential seal of approval on an unlikely story from a biased source that neatly fits the progressive narrative but can't be confirmed."
On Wednesday it added an editorial note to the piece noting that the Columbus Dispatch had confirmed the story -- but did not immediately change the article or its headline, which was "An Abortion Story Too Good To Confirm."
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, strongly suggested to Fox News late Monday that the case was a fabrication, and there was "not a whisper" of evidence to back up the claims that a 10-year-old rape victim had left Ohio to have an abortion.
On Wednesday he reversed course, saying in a statement after the arrest that he praised the Columbus Police Department for "securing a confession and getting a rapist off the street."
Thirteen states have already passed trigger laws to ban abortion, in some states even in the case of rape or incest.
Biden, a Democrat and staunch Catholic turned abortion rights proponent, has not contained his anger, calling the abortion bans in the case of rape or incest "extreme."
A majority of Americans -- 56 percent, according to an NPR/Marist poll -- oppose the overturning of Roe v Wade. —Agence France-Presse
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