Doubt cast over Joe Biden's harrowing story of 10yo rape victim

It’s a harrowing story that the US President has shared about a 10-year-old rape victim. But there’s just one problem with it.

US President Joe Biden is facing increasing scepticism 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.

Mr Biden raged against Ohio’s restrictive abortion law on Friday 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 on July 1 by the Indianapolis Star, is highly dubious.

US President Joe Biden signs an executive order protecting access to reproductive health care services at the White House on July 8, 2022. Picture: Samuel Corum/AFP

A single source, Indianapolis obstetrician-gynaecologist 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 Dr 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 doctors 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.

Reproductive rights supporters march to protest the overturning of Roe v Wade by the Supreme Court in Boston, Massachusetts on June 24. Picture: Joseph Prezioso/AFP

The fact-checking website Snopes.com said on Tuesday that Dr 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 Mr 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,” Ms Jean-Pierre said at her daily press briefing on Friday.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Doubt cast over Joe Biden's harrowing story of 10yo rape victim