A 10-year-old girl just over six weeks pregnant had to travel to Indiana to obtain an abortion after she was denied the procedure in her home state of Ohio, the Indianapolis Star Tribune reported Saturday.
The appalling situation for the child rape victim will likely be repeated countless times now that the U.S. Supreme Court last month eradicated the half-century-old right to an abortion by reversing Roe v. Wade. States are now allowed to ban the procedure.
The girl was referred for an abortion on Monday, three days after the Roe decision, to Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Caitlin Bernard, she told the Indy Star. Bernard had been contacted by a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio, who had determined that the girl was six weeks and three days pregnant, according to the newspaper.
The girl was soon en route to Bernard’s care. There were no other details about her situation.
Ohio prohibits an abortion when so-called fetal cardiac activity begins, around six weeks. Several groups filed a lawsuit seeking to block the state law from taking effect on Wednesday. But an emergency stay of the abortion ban was rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court Friday, which means the ban can be upheld while the case is being reviewed, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.