Rapist jailed after 9yo girl’s abortion, mother asks for leniency

The live-in boyfriend of the 9-year-old’s mother was found guilty of raping the child, who was forced to seek an abortion.

A man who raped a 9-year-old Ohio girl who crossed state lines to seek an abortion has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after the victim’s family “begged” for the lower punishment.

The young girl at the centre of the case became a flash point in the state and national abortion debate after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June last year.

Ohio’s ban on abortions after six weeks necessitated her trip across the state line to Indiana.

Gerson Fuentes, 28, who was the live-in boyfriend of the child’s mother, confessed to raping the child in a police interview, with DNA evidence confirming the rape, prosecutors said in court.

Gerson Fuentes was the live-in boyfriend of the child’s mother.

Common Pleas Court Judge Julie Lynch said the victim’s family pleaded with her to accept the plea agreement, which she called a “very hard pill for this court to swallow.”

The maximum punishment would have been a life sentence without parole.

Either way, Mr Fuentes, who is an undocumented immigrant, will have to register as a sex offender.

If he eventually is paroled, he would likely be deported back to his home country of Guatemala given the fact that he is in the US illegally, according to authorities.

“Anyone who’s ever been in this courtroom for the last 20 years knows how this court feels about these babies, young people, being violated,” Judge Lynch said. “However, today, by the request of the family, this court will be sentencing without comment.”

The judge added that the deal will save the child from reliving the trauma of her rape by having to testify in court during a trial.

The victim’s mother previously defended her daughter’s rapist when approached by a reporter at her apartment which was also listed as the home of Mr Fuentes.

“Everything that they’re saying against [Fuentes] is a lie,” she said in Spanish as she hid behind her apartment door.

Fuentes confessed the rape to police and DNA confirmed it.

However, the woman’s daughter told investigators that Mr Fuentes had raped her and DNA testing confirmed that he was the father of the aborted foetus.

The mother, who refused to provide her name, claimed her daughter was fine and said she wasn’t the person who pressed charges against Mr Fuentes.

The stomach-turning abuse made national news when President Biden cited it as evidence of the horrors of anti-abortion legislation after the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade.

The young girl at the centre of the case became a flash point in the state and national abortion debate.

The young girl, who was impregnated by Mr Fuentes, was taken from Ohio to Indiana in order to terminate her pregnancy via legal abortion.

The doctor who treated the child, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, spoke out against anti-abortion laws, like Ohio’s, that ban abortion at the first sign of a heartbeat and gave the example of her unnamed patient as proof against the legislation.

Dr Bernard was reprimanded in May for violating patient privacy laws when she spoke to a local newspaper reporter about the case.

Indiana’s state Medical Licensing Board fined the doctor $3000.

Those in Ohio can currently legally obtain an abortion before 22 weeks into pregnancy after a a judge put the Republican-controlled General Assembly’s restrictions on hold in September last year.

An appeal is pending with the Ohio Supreme Court.