The Indianapolis Star published a piece on July 1 about a 10-year-old Ohio girl who was six weeks pregnant from a rape. Because the state of Ohio forbids abortion after six weeks, her doctor contacted a colleague, and the young girl traveled to Indiana to obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Caitlin Bernard‘s clinic.
The story went viral; many thought this exposed the consequences of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It sounded terrible — how could someone force a 10-year-old girl to have a baby?
Even President Joe Biden had to comment on this story. “It was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim — 10 years old — and she was forced to have to travel out of state to Indiana to seek to terminate the pregnancy and maybe save her life.”
But the story seemed to have some holes.
“The only source cited for the anecdote was Bernard,” the Washington Post reported. “She’s on the record, but there is no indication that the newspaper made other attempts to confirm her account.” Other newspapers caught on to the story and “did not follow up to confirm her account.”
Since this is a child rape case, all of the doctors involved would have been legally required to report it. A criminal investigation would have been opened. Bernard would not disclose her colleague’s name or the location where everything took place, so attempting to find the facts is a shot in the dark at this point.
“As a spot check, we contacted child services agencies in some of Ohio’s most populous cities, including Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo,” the Washington Post reported. “None of the officials we reached were aware of such a case in their areas.”
Is the story true? We don’t know. If it is true, then this wouldn’t be the first time an abortionist in Indiana helped cover up a child rape by failing to report. Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, who became famous after he died for other reasons, was fined and had his medical license suspended in 2016 for a variety of charges, including the failure to report the rapes of two 14-year-olds. During his disciplinary hearing, he voluntarily admitted to taking a 10-year-old girl from Indiana to Illinois, aborting her baby, and failing to report the rape. The girl’s parents were refusing to prosecute because the perpetrator was her uncle.
And if it isn’t true? An abortionist such as Bernard has every incentive to exaggerate the story and downplay a procedure that kills an innocent baby. Confirmation bias is real, and some people will believe anything if it bolsters their own ideology.
As the Washington Post concludes, this type of story is also hard to fact-check due to laws and journalistic standards that require respecting the privacy and security of the young girl.
Assuming he is real, the immediate capture and confinement of a rapist who impregnates 10-year-olds seems far more urgent, by any standard, than aborting this girl’s baby. As long as people know about this criminal and fail in their duty of care to report the incident, how is anyone supposed to believe this story?
You don’t have to identify or harass this poor girl, if she exists, to bring charges against a demonstrably dangerous child rapist. For a story like this one, one self-interested source is really not sufficient proof, especially when there are so many loose ends.
Esther Wickham is a summer 2022 Washington Examiner fellow.
