Biden faces doubt over story of 10-year-old rape victim he used to push abortion order
President Biden is facing increasing skepticism after he repeated the horrifying story of a 10-year-old rape victim to push his executive order on abortion — without seeking any evidence that the tale is true.
Biden on Friday raged against Ohio’s restrictive abortion law as he referenced the widely reported incident, in which a young girl was allegedly forced to travel across state lines to obtain an abortion after being raped.
“Imagine being that little girl,” he said. “I’m serious, just imagine being that little girl. Ten years old!”
But hours later, the Washington Post acknowledged what conservative critics had been saying for days: that the story, first reported July 1 by the Indianapolis Star, is highly dubious.
A single source, Indianapolis OB-GYN Dr. Caitlin Bernard, claims an Ohio “child abuse doctor” contacted her after determining that the young victim was six weeks and three days pregnant — three days too late to obtain an abortion under the restrictive Ohio abortion law triggered by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.
But Bernard is a prominent abortion advocate, reported Megan Fox at the right-leaning PJ Media — and provided no details about the location of the crime or whether it was being investigated by authorities.
By law, both physicians are mandated reporters who must disclose evidence of child abuse to police. In the days since, no arrests in such a case have been reported.
The fact-checking website Snopes.com said on Tuesday Bernard had refused to provide further information. On Saturday, the Washington Post added that child services agencies in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, and other Ohio cities were unaware of any 10-year-old rape victims in their jurisdictions.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to say if Biden had confirmed that local law enforcement was seeking the child’s attacker — and admitted the president had wielded the tale to make a political point.
“The President spoke to that — a young woman — just to show how extreme the decision on — the Dobbs decision was and just how extreme it is now for American public, the American families,” Jean-Pierre said at her daily press briefing Friday.