Several Republicans say they are surprised that a 10-year-old girl can get pregnant

By Scott

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress who oppose abortion rights are having a hard time talking about the harrowing case of a 10-year-old rape victim who was forced to travel to Indiana for an abortion due to strict laws in her home state, Ohio.

The case turned the international media around after the president, Joe Biden, denounced the Republican policies that forced

Republican and right-wing media criticized Biden, suggesting the case had been fabricated, only for a suspect to be arrested days later.

Confronted with the reality of the case, several Republican lawmakers who were interviewed on Thursday seemed to have difficulty responding: while some said they were confused, others blamed the media.

Ohio Republican Representatives Jim Jordan and Steve Chabot, on Capitol Hill, July 14, 2022.J.

Scott Applewhite/AP

Many expressed surprise that it was biologically possible for a 10-year-old girl to become pregnant.

Some even said they were "morally" divided on whether abortions should be allowed in cases of incest or rape, as in the Ohio case.

And others tried to steer the conversation toward the undocumented immigrant who prosecutors say raped the girl.

“

It's a very tough thing,” Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, said Thursday.

[Indiana Attorney General Investigates Doctor Who Aborted 10-Year-Old Girl]

Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Arizona, said she couldn't imagine what it would be like to be 10 years old and pregnant.

“I don't think she would have been able to have children when she was 10 years old… It's horrible.

She is horrible in every way,” she claimed.

Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, declared, “I'm a pro-life guy, okay?

And God is in charge of this... We are all children of God.

This is a tough decision, and I don't know if I have the answer right now, because now you have another baby involved: she's pregnant and… She's a baby."

Just days earlier, several high-ranking Republicans claimed the story was false and used it to accuse Democrats of overreaching in their response to the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v.

Wade.

The House of Representatives will vote on two bills related to access to abortion

July 14, 202200:33

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, said the story was likely a "fabrication."

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tweeted: “Another lie.

Anyone surprised?” in response to a Washington Examiner story about Yost's claim that he had found no evidence of the young rape victim.

Jordan quietly deleted the tweet on Wednesday, after prosecutors linked Gershon Fuentes, 27, who confessed to the rape, to prosecution, according to court documents.

Asked if he regretted saying the story was false,

Jordan blamed Fuentes, an undocumented immigrant, and the media.

[Claims to be the mother of the 10-year-old girl raped in Ohio and defends the Latino who confessed to the crime: "What they say about him is false"]

“We did not know that an illegal alien did this heinous act.

We never doubted the girl," Jordan said.

He added that the lie was “the headline of the news… the headline of his profession.

We doubted Joe Biden, which is usually a smart thing to do, but we didn't know this illegal immigrant had done something so terrible.

He must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Why is there no talk of an illegal person doing this?

How is this defended?

How do you defend this guy who came here illegally and we have 5 million of them here?” said Williams, who represents Texas.

A Latino admits to sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in Ohio

July 14, 202202:20

Biden and White House officials learned of the case from The Indianapolis Star, which reported the girl's story on July 1.

That story quoted Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis OB/GYN who said she received a call from an Ohio child abuse doctor who had a 10-year-old patient who was six weeks pregnant.

“She was forced to travel out of state to Indiana to try to terminate the pregnancy and perhaps save her life.

10 years old, 10 years old, raped, six weeks pregnant, traumatized and forced to travel to another state,” Biden said last week during a speech on protecting abortion rights.