Roughly a dozen Republican-led states have moved to ban nearly all abortion since late June, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had legalized abortion nationwide since 1973, almost 50 years ago. More states are expected to enact more bans soon.
As these laws take effect, shocking cases are surfacing, such as the 10-year-old Ohio girl who became pregnant after she was raped, had to travel to Indiana to get abortion care because she was three days past Ohio’s six-week limit, which doesn’t include exceptions for rape or incest. At first, anti-choice legislators and the Ohio attorney general denied any of it was true. Then, when a man was arrested who admitted to raping the 10-year-old at least twice, they moved on to attack the OB/GYN who had helped her get an abortion. Indiana’s Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita said he was investigating whether or not the provider reported the rape to the state. Turns out she had in fact done so, in accordance with state law, and she wrote a letter to him, a cease-and-desist letter, so he stopped threatening her for the moment.
Abortion access workers say the new state-level anti-abortion laws threaten the ability of abortion providers to assist child rape and incest survivors. Prism reporter Tina
— source democracynow.org | Jul 18, 2022