Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told Fox News his office has heard “not a whisper” about the widely publicized story on a 10-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and traveled across state lines to receive an abortion.
Following the SCOTUS decision on Dobbs v. Jackson which overturned Roe v. Wade, Ohio’s trigger laws banning abortions went into effect. These laws allegedly forced a 10-year-old rape victim to travel to Indiana for an abortion. However, Yost questioned the story’s validity.
“I know our prosecutors and cops in this state, there’s not one of them that wouldn’t be turning over every rock in their jurisdiction if they had the slightest hint that this occurred there,” Yost told Fox News’ Jesse Watters.
Suggesting the story may not be true, Yost explained there is no record of any 10-year-old requesting a rape kit from the Ohio state crime lab.
“Any case like this, you’re going to have a rape kit, you’re going to have biological evidence, and you would be looking for DNA analysis, which we do most of the DNA analysis in Ohio. There is no case request for analysis that looks anything like this.”
WATCH:
BREAKING: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost says there is "not a whisper" that a 10-year-old child was raped and impregnated, there has been no request for crime lab results, and that Ohio's heartbeat law would have allowed such a young girl to get an abortion in the state. pic.twitter.com/oIhJzNiq52
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 11, 2022
The first news outlet to publish the story is The Indianapolis Star. The Star published the article on July 1 with abortion activist and Doctor Caitlin Bernard being the only source cited in it.
Bernard alleges she was contacted four days earlier by an Ohio “child abuse doctor” who claimed a 10-year-old child was six weeks pregnant and seeking an abortion.
According to Ohio law, the doctor who claimed to have had the 10-year-old as a patient would be legally required to notify law enforcement that the child was raped.
There is no such report in record. Ohio law explicitly says physicians must report any case where a child is “suffering any physical or mental wound [or] injury.”
Yost explained how the Ohio doctor either does not exist and the story is fabricated, or the doctor committed a crime by not reporting the story to law enforcement.
“We don’t know who the originating doctor in Ohio was, if they even exist. But the bottom line is, it is a crime — if you’re a mandated reporter — to fail to report.”
The story exploded across social media and even President Biden referenced it during a speech bashing trigger laws in red states like Ohio.
“She was forced to have to travel out of the state to Indiana to seek to terminate the pregnancy and maybe save her life,” the president said.
“Imagine being that little girl. I’m serious, just imagine being that little girl. Ten years old,” Biden added.
Pres. Biden on 10-year-old who reportedly was raped and had to travel out of state to terminate the pregnancy: “Imagine being that little girl. I'm serious, just imagine being that little girl. 10 years old!” https://t.co/jZ8JYZ6fZW pic.twitter.com/y3iRTPjfv6
— ABC News (@ABC) July 8, 2022
The Washington Post, Snopes, and the New York Post unsuccessfully attempted to verify the story.
Conservative journalist Megan Fox was the first to push the narrative that the Ohio story may be fake news.
Fox noted how the Indiana doctor, Caitlin Bernard, who rushed to the media to cover this story has been active in media appearances for years.
In 2017, Bernard was featured in a New York Times piece on abortion. Before the Ohio story, Bernard was featured in three separate media outlet’s story where she dramatically reacted to the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling.
Before the Dobbs decision, Bernard also gave comments for a June 19th Politico article about abortion.
The story about a 10 yr old pregnant girl who had to go from Ohio to IN for an abortion gives me serious pause for a number of reasons. There are many red flags.🚩I'm going to detail them here. pic.twitter.com/1PkzmvfzRS
— Megan Fox (@MeganFoxWriter) July 5, 2022
As the Conservative journalist who detailed Bernard’s media appearances noted, no local Ohio news outlets reported the story.
Stay tuned to National File for any updates.
Update 7/13:
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost changed his tune after news was released that a Columbus, Ohio man was charged for impregnating a 10-year-old girl on Wednesday. The Ohio AG released a statement which said: “We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets.”
