Republicans from Kristi Noem to Jim Jordan ruthlessly shamed this girl on the national stage, attacking her story as completely fabricated and “too good to be true”
Eat crow, misogynist dipshits https://t.co/taf33Cn3qO
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) July 13, 2022
Per the IndyStar, “Ohio man charged in rape of 10-year-old that led to Indiana abortion”:
… Gershon Fuentes, 27, whose last known address was an apartment in Columbus, Ohio, was arrested Tuesday after police say he admitted to raping the child on at least two occasions. He’s since been charged with rape and is being held on a $2 million bond.
Columbus police were made aware of the girl’s pregnancy through a referral by Franklin County Children Services that was made by her mother on June 22, Det. Jeffrey Huhn testified Wednesday morning at Fuentes’ arraignment. On June 30, the girl underwent a medical abortion in Indianapolis, Huhn said in court Wednesday, according to the Columbus Dispatch, a Gannett sister paper that has been working on the story with IndyStar…
The criminal charges and testimony from the Columbus detective confirm the disturbing story that has become a key flash point in the national furor over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
IndyStar first reported earlier this month that a 10-year-old rape victim traveled from Ohio to Indiana for abortion services after most abortions became illegal in her home state…
But in recent days, some abortion opponents and news outlets have criticized the story as unproven.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also questioned the validity of the account during an appearance on Fox News this week.
Yost, a Republican, told Fox News host Jesse Watters that his office had not heard “a whisper” of a report being filed for the 10-year-old victim.
“We have regular contact with prosecutors and local police and sheriffs — not a whisper anywhere,” Yost said on the show.
Yost doubled down on that in an interview with the USA TODAY Network Ohio bureau on Tuesday, saying that the more time passed before confirmation made it “more likely that this is a fabrication.”…
On Wednesday, once news of the arraignment came, Yost issued a single sentence statement:
“We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets.”…
The whole Murdoch empire went in on this one. pic.twitter.com/Wq08HLVkqy
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) July 13, 2022
The Wall Street Journal has added an editor's note to their column titled: An Abortion Story Too Good to Confirm
It says that while police were made aware of the rape last month, "no public confirmation of the referral or arrest was reported until the Dispatch story on July 13." pic.twitter.com/lZ98o6trqm
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 13, 2022
ETA: H/t, Scout211:
Unimaginable abortion stories will become more common. Is American journalism ready? (No.)
I wrote about the 10-year-old and the fact-checking. https://t.co/VOUyQHaRMv
— Laura Hazard Owen (@laurahazardowen) July 13, 2022
… In America after the end of Roe v. Wade, one brave source on the record in the final story will often be the best we can get. Obviously, reporters and editors must make sure that their reporting is accurate and true! But those who believe that the end of legal abortion in many states is newsworthy will need to figure out how to report and publish these stories with a few more constraints than they’d prefer. If performing or receiving an abortion now counts as activism, well, then journalists will need to be okay quoting “activists,” unless they only want to tell the anti-abortion movement’s side.
Countless abortion stories will never be told at all. It won’t be because they’re lies. It will be because telling them is too risky, because patients and doctors and staffers and volunteers will face arrest for coming forward.
The facts will live on in the shadows. The women and children’s real lives will continue. Even if their stories seem “too good” to be true. Even if you wish they weren’t.
trollhattan
“Too good” doing some awfully heavy lifting here.
There is nothing left to say about these people. They have filled in all the blanks and cannot find any new ones.
SpaceUnit
I hope to God that everything possible is being done to protect this girl’s identity.
The last thing she needs is to have Alex Jones camped out on her lawn with a bullhorn.
Scout211
Reposted from downstairs:
Good article in Neiman Lab by Laura Hazard Owen summarizing the wild and dangerous news reporting about the 10 year old victim and her perpetrator. The greater problem she writes is that there will be more and more stories with “one source” as more and more pregnant persons are denied abortions in their state. She wonders if the media is ready for it. (And she recites all the articles that show the media is not ready).
Please go read the whole thing. Reporting the stories of those seeking abortions in states who ban them are stories that need to be told. And told accurately.
Gretchen
Jonathan Turley still insists it’s a lie because he thinks a 10 year old would pass the health exemption
Scout211
Yeah, I heard he got his medical degree last night. ///s
Jeffro
following Gertz’s lead, I’m doing what I can to get folks to see how quickly the entire Republican Noise Machine swung into action to try and slime President Biden on this one.
They have SUCH an incredible network – it’s what keeps their ‘floor’ at 40% in most all cases and issues.
And they’re so scared that Dems and Independents will turn out to vote on reproductive rights issues this fall. Let’s hammer the shit out of them on this and gun safety, too.
MisterForkbeard
What blew my mind is that several MSM reporters were credulously saying “there are doubts this story is true” based on things like… they’d only heard about it from a local pro-choice activist and the timing was “too convenient”.
Fuck these people. Of course a women’s rights activist would be dialled into tragedies in the local area. And the timing wasn’t “convenient” at all – there are over 140,000 reported rapes per year. There are quite a few more unreported. That’s 400 rapes per days, you knuckledragging fuckwit. OF COURSE THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN IMMEDIATELY after Roe was repealed. Statistically speaking, it was going to take less than a goddamn week.
What horrible, awful people.
MisterForkbeard
@Gretchen: Except that, apparently, doctors didn’t think so and refused. Which is why she had to go to another state.
Turley can jump off a bridge. What an asshole.
JPL
The articles disputing the claims shocked me, but not sure why at this point. This is who we are.
Baud
@Gretchen:
Is he willing to risk his career and prison like the doctor would have to?
UncleEbeneezer
For anyone who needs something lighter/more uplifting, Emmy-nominated Janelle James of Abbott Elementary was back on TheBlackGuyWhoTips podcast for a 90-minute interview that is really hilarious. She’s been a friend of the podcast for years and has been a semi-regular guest since 2015. Much like her stand-up comedy, she’s way more raunchy here than on Abbott or her new game show. Anyways, it’s a very fun interview filled with a lot of Black Joy and the challenge of suddenly becoming very famous in only a year.
Really happy to see her star taking off.
Baud
If this victim is too good to be true, no worries. There will be others.
J R in WV
Because every 10 year old girl wants to go public about their rape, pregnancy, and medical care for that series of events! There’s a reason rape victims’ names are not reported on by law. Because of evil fascists and theocrats who would camp on their lawn or front steps with a bull horn.
So glad I was never on a jury for a rape case, would be horrible.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
Since Roe fell, the few right wingers in my feed have been in ‘rape pregnancies almost NEVER happen’ mode. They will attack every single one that ends up in the news. Otherwise, they have to admit it could happen to themselves (for right wing women) or to people they know and love. They would have to acknowledge responsibility for the consequences of their policies. Unlike with economic policies, where it is much easier to muddy the waters of causation, this is pretty direct. They would have to admit they were wrong about something and Democrats were right. They can’t have that.
wenchacha
What evil fuckers, every last one of them.
Eunicecycle
@MisterForkbeard: yes doctors aren’t going to risk their licenses over this. If a court decided it wasn’t a medical emergency, he or she could go to jail as well as lose their license. If that’s what Yost wants, he needs to tell the legislature to explicitly write it into the law.
Baud
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
They might even have to stop raping.
chopper
“too good” to be true? “TOO GOOD“? fuck these people
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Baud:
I almost made a sarcastic comment, but I just couldn’t.
Elizabelle
@JPL: This is who THEY are. Please do not smear us with that too wide brush.
Them. Not us.
gratuitous
“Well gee whiz! The folks looking to maintain the right of women to decide about their own health care warned us things like this would happen, and lo and behold, here it is. A 10-year-old is raped and impregnated, and because her native state doesn’t believe in reality, she had to go to another state to get treatment. That’s just too good to be true (in a really, really screwed up way of thinking of what qualifies as ‘too good’) for the People Who Think Women Are Human Beings in Full crowd, so it must be fake news.”
When you refuse to treat with reality, it leads a person to a very dark and cruel place that celebrates the misery, suffering, pain and death of its victims.
eachother
This happens and one shock follows another. 10 years old. No in-state care.
But having no shade, nowhere to hide behind getting the pregnancy ‘taken care of’, the pressure hit the fan. The rapist got harsh light and is behind bars. $2 mill bond. Serious bright light a**hole. Harm will come to you in. Real justice.
Poor girl. Poor girl.
The extremes turned over a rock and it is not pretty. Dark, like a judges robe.
Alison Rose
Can someone please send Greenwald to Mars.
Also fuck absolutely every single person who doubted this case. Monsters, the lot of them.
dr. bloor
Jim Jordan tweeting “Another Lie. Anyone Surprised.” The oppo campaign ads and fliers just write themselves.
James E Powell
No doubt they’ve sent out a team to check the child’s counter-tops.
JPL
@Elizabelle: True. I’m shocked that they decided to question this.
zhena gogolia
@chopper: yeah, same
mrmoshpotato
I have no words for how deplorable this all is. And it’s bound to get worse. Thanks voter purity shitstains.
H.E.Wolf
It’s worth remembering, for all of us, that there are 3 women of experience and integrity wearing those dark Supreme Court robes.
Be mindful, also, of equating “dark” with “bad”. It ain’t necessarily so.
The Thin Black Duke
If the midterms aren’t a bloodbath for Republicans, this country is doomed.
MattF
Pathological liars will assume everyone is a pathological liar.
Dan B
Too good to be true = You’re trying to shame me for my sincerely held views*.
These people can’t tell the difference between morality and slavish devotion to cruel doctrine. Any twinge of empathy would be terminal to their egos.
*Their “views” seem to be based upon debasing “lesser people”. The rest is distraction.
Ksmiami
@The Thin Black Duke:
Agreed. Republicans really are a goddamned menace
kindness
To conservatives it must just be a game to them. No way anyone with an ounce of empathy dumps on a 10 yo rape victim like they did. That alone tells me they shouldn’t be representing anyone.
EarthWindFire
@Scout211: Why not? All the red state legislatures think they know better than doctors too.
Mallard Filmore
@EarthWindFire:
Red state legislatures are turning into medical death panels, deciding which women get to live and which must die.
Ohio Mom
@Alison Rose : Not only does Ohio’s current law NOT have an exception for rape, the clowns at the Statehouse in Columbus are considering doing away with the 6 week window. No abortions for anyone, ever.
We are gerrymandered beyond hope is my only explanation.
Sure Lurkalot
10 year old rape victim, 10 year old mass shooting victims…there’s nothing these horrible people won’t lie about without any remorse.
trollhattan
@Alison Rose :
Greenwald hates women, this 10YO hussy is clearly no girl; ergo, Greenwald hates her.
It’s simple being Glem.
The Moar You Know
Twitter is nothing but a bullhorn for liars. I don’t know why any decent human being would be on there.
That users have the ability to selectively delete tweets tells you all you need to know about what its purpose is.
Ohio Mom
@MisterForkbeard: Frim the Columbus Dispatch article:
“In 2020, there were 52 abortions in children 15 or younger in Ohio, accounting for 0.3% of the 20,605 abortions performed that year, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Data from the health department shows there were 63 such procedures in 2019, 54 in 2018, 61 in 2017 and 76 in 2016.”
So historically, at least one such abortion involving children 15 or younger EVERY WEEK.
Jackie
One of the news articles I read, said she JUST turned 10 – suggesting she was NINE when she was raped. Ten years old in itself is horrible, but 9… we’re talking 4th grade.
eachother
@H.E.Wolf: I didn’t say black like a judges robe. Though they are black. Like Alito’s soul. Bad, like the court’s judgement on abortion. Dark in the absence of enlightenment.
lafcolleen
Here in Illinois, this stories a out minors are even harder to verify than when the victims are adults. serious crimes with minor victims are often “red jacketed” (meaning the physical file is put into a folder with a bright read border rather than just plain manila) in Cook County – and the file is impounded.
And of course child welfare cases are confidential.
So the only way to verify a story is through people being willing to speak up. You can’t access the records.
Jeffro
@Elizabelle: thank you – much needed
Scout211
The Daily Caller (sorry will not link! ) now going after the doctor.
Here’s the title of the article:
“Doctor Who Spread Story About 10-Year-Old’s Abortion Disciplined For HIPAA Violation: REPORT”
Oh, and the sources are unnamed. Typical.
Geminid
@The Moar You Know: There are a lot of good people on Twitter. Denise Oliver-Velez, Propane Jane, and Mangy Jay are just a few. AGrayBee and Ragnarok Lobster are two more. Mr. Lobster’s retweets have introduced me to many articulate, committed Democrats
And @Betty Cracker and @Cheryl Rofer are pretty good too!
cmorenc
Insofar as women in abortion-prohibition states traveling to abortion-legal states, be aware that the 14th Amendment-based “right to travel” might be narrowly re-interpreted by the RW SCOTUS radicals such that e.g. Texas could criminalize both a pregnant woman traveling to e.g. California for the purpose of abortion, as well as whomever in Texas financed the trip. One of the key 14A clauses in prior SCOTUS decisions upholding this right is “No State may make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…” and since Dobbs overruled Griswold and Roe, abortion is no longer a privilege or immunity under federal law. Some of the RW “federalist society” SCOTUS justices are not very fond of the long line of cases holding that various federal constitutional rights are incorporated upon the states as well, particularly Thomas.
jnfr
Whoever wrote that WSJ headline should be flogged.
Scout211
Oh no. Emergency vehicles screaming down the highway and 3 CalFire planes overhead. I can see the smoke plumes from the fire from my front porch. It looks small right now. I hope they knock it down quickly.
Ohio Mom
@Scout211: I’ve seen a couple of accusations that the doctors involved did not report the abuse they found. (It may be that the police were alerted first and brought the girl to the doctor’s, which case, yeah the doctors would not have needed to make a report).
The righties are now all true protectors of the girl they doubted existed mere hours ago.
cain
@Alison Rose : Much prefer Mercury or Venus. He needs to feel the heat.
Scout211
@Ohio Mom: It was first reported to protective services.
cain
@kindness:
Parents of Sandy Hook victims would like to join the chat. Imagine being told that the shooting didn’t even exist and wouldn’t even acknowledge that your child is dead.
Scout211
@Scout211: Okay. Two large CalFire planes, one small plane, two water helicopters and several fire trucks. It looks like it was knocked back quickly. Whew.
It’s always scary when it is so close.
Another Scott
Relatedly, ICYMI, … driftglass – By The Rivers of Babylon:
Well worth a click, even if you’re an atheist.
Cheers,
Scott.
Tazj
Conservatives are always moving the goalposts. First they, along with some journalists doubted the story. Then it became why the story wasn’t about finding out who the rapist was and prosecuting them. Now, that there’s an arrest it’s stop wanting to score partisan points, and exploiting a young girl’s trauma.
A writer from the DC Examiner (I know trash) wants to remind us that this is only one case and most abortions are done for selfish reasons.Apparently liberals were gleeful about this case instead of wanting to point out the horrible consequences of abortion bans.These people won’t be shamed into reconsidering their opinions.
Edmund Dantes
@cmorenc: there are Fed Soc judges and lawyers that don’t believe the reconstruction amendments are actually legally enacted. If you dig into right wingnut law circles you will see the arguments being made about how the reconstruction amendments were improperly enacted.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Scott: If I have to have that Psalm quoted, the Melodians did it best.
Another Scott
@kindness: Yes, they shouldn’t be representing anyone.
But remember LOLGOP’s adage:
It’s all about othering and finding an enemy to beat up on to keep your supporters angry at others. FreshAir on NPR today had a segment by a NewYorker reporter on his article on Orban’s Hungary. It’s the same thing.
These monsters don’t really care about the human consequences of their policies. That’s not the point. The point is power. The point is to convince their supporters that they are special, they are correct, and anyone who disagrees with them (or their representatives and leaders) must be irredeemably wrong and not worth any consideration at all.
We cannot reason with them when they’re in this frame of mind. The dynamic has to change. Fortunately, we understand a little bit about that; but it’s still a very hard problem, and affects much of our common lives…
TheTakeaway:
Cheers,
Scott.
SpaceUnit
Fox News is reporting that the girl’s rapist is an illegal immigrant so I guess everything is okay.
Darkrose
@Alison Rose : That fuckwit only cares about rape when he can use it to score rhetorical points against a Black woman who supports Obama.
Darkrose
@The Moar You Know: I have lots of friends, including IRL friends, on Twitter. There are also specific subgroup Twitters I’m involved in: Giants baseball Twitter, Final Fantasy XIV Twitter, and librarian Twitter to name a few.
HumboldtBlue
@SpaceUnit:
Indiana AG is reported as saying they will now look into the doctor who performed the procedure.
SpaceUnit
@HumboldtBlue:
Indiana is gonna Indiana.
HumboldtBlue
@SpaceUnit:
As is its wont.
Citizen Alan
At this point, I consider all Republicans to presumptively be rapists and pedophiles by nature. Mercifully, most of them are also cowards who are too afraid of getting caught and punished to act on their depraved instincts, but I truly believe most Republicans would rape a child if they knew they could get away with it.
phdesmond
@Another Scott:
here’s a song version by Boney M.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSxQJUv1e8k
phdesmond
Chris Hayes just ended his show with a blistering telling of the Indiana story.
phdesmond
@Omnes Omnibus:
But with Boney M., you get a verse from Psalm 17 thrown in, at no additional cost!
J R in WV
@H.E.Wolf:
I beg to differ, Amy Comey Barret is neither experienced nor has even a gram of integrity. So there are 2 women of experience and integrity wearing those dark … robes.
And one woman without a lick of experience nor integrity, but wearing black robes and making decisions.
Shitty decisions.
Bear your rapist’s child decisions! Way to go, Amy!
lefthanded compliment
@J R in WV: Sotomayor, Kagan, and now Jackson.
J R in WV
@lefthanded compliment:
Ok, NOW there are 3 female members with integrity. Not last week! Sorry to be misinformed.
debbie
Just as well I slept through the news. Fucking Yost. He was a Republican who is now a TFG Republican and daily longs to overtake Ken Paxton in the number of stupid lawsuits he’s filed. That was a very stupid thing to say that he hadn’t heard anything about it, but at least he’s walked it back as best a slime mold can.
varmintito
Gym Jordan should be forced to literally eat shit on national TV. There needs to be a comeuppance for these horrible, horrible people.
columbusqueen
@debbie: The stupid SOB didn’t hear about because Children’s Services did their job & kept it confidential until CPD arrested the creep. That’s more than I can say for Yost, who is a worthless bucket of rancid lard.
debbie
@columbusqueen:
His experience in these things has long been noted. //