Mother of 10-year-old rape victim, who had to cross state lines for abortion, defends the accused, Gerson Fuentes

• A man identified as Gerson Fuentes was charged with raping a child.
• The girl became pregnant and had to travel to another state to have an abortion.
• In a strange statement, the victim’s mother defended the suspect.

An Ohio man, identified as Gerson Fuentes, was charged Wednesday with raping and impregnating a 10-year-old girl who then had to leave the state for an abortion, authorities said. Later, in a strange statement, the girl’s mother defended the accused.

Gerson Fuentes, 27, was arraigned in Franklin County Common Pleas Court and charged with raping a girl under 13 years old. His bail was set at $2 million bail, reported KRON 4 on July 13. The victim in the case was identified as a 10-year-old girl in statements made at the charging hearing and in a press release issued by Attorney General Dave Yost. It was also stated that the victim underwent an abortion procedure in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Gerson Fuentes is accused of raping a child

Fox News reported that Gerson Fuentes, accused of raping and impregnating a 10-year-old girl, is a Guatemalan immigrant who confessed the crime to investigators from the Columbus Police Department. However, the little girl’s mother made a strange statement defending him.

Although she did not offer her name or want to show her face, the victim’s mother told a Telemundo reporter on Thursday, July 14, that her daughter was «fine» and that «everything they’re saying about (Gerson Fuentes) is a lie.» It was not specified what the relationship is between the perpetrator and the victim, a Mexican girl who may have been raped on at least two occasions.

In recent days, after the IndyStar. reported that an Ohio doctor had contacted his colleague to help the 10-year-old girl obtain an abortion, the story became a flashpoint in the ongoing abortion debate in the United States.

Advocates criticized Ohio’s law that bans abortion after six weeks’ gestation, and others began to question whether the girl’s story was even true. “There is no case analysis request that looks like this,” Yost said in an interview with Fox News this week. However, after the arraignment, he applauded Columbus police for arresting Gerson Fuentes, KRON 4 reported.

«My heart aches» for the victim

«My heart aches for the pain suffered by this young girl,» Yost said in a statement. «I appreciate the diligent work of the Columbus Police Department to get a confession and get a rapist off the street,» the attorney general added in the statement.

The Ohio-based anti-abortion group, Right to Life, had also cast doubt on the initial report, saying, «We really have to question the source of this.» But following the accusations, the group offered prayers to the victim, though it called the abortion a «band-aid-type solution» that «only increased the pain and violence perpetuated against her.»

Biden himself spoke out

A state legislator and even President Joe Biden were horrified that the girl had to leave the state to have an abortion. «Ten years – ten years! – raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, had to travel to another state,” Biden said last week. «Imagine being that girl. Does anyone think it’s the majority opinion that that shouldn’t be able to be dealt with, in any other state in the nation? Should a 10-year-old girl be forced to give birth to a rapist’s child? I can tell you no. I can’t think of anything more extreme.»

State Sen. Tina Maharath (D-Columbus), who has sponsored legislation allowing Ohioans to sue for an unwanted pregnancy, said the current state law is devastating. “I am relieved that she had the resources to leave Ohio to undergo a necessary medical procedure,” she emphasized.