The victim of child rape was forced to travel to a different state in order to gain access to an abortion.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade is expected to strip over half of US women of their right to abortion care, triggering anti-abortion laws and imposing reproductive rights restrictions across the country.
“The Supreme Court has overturned Roe, and decimated the right to abortion in the United States,” posted the National Network of Abortion funds following the verdict. “With this ruling, SCOTUS is allowing Mississippi to enforce its harmful 15-week ban on abortion and is opening the door for state legislatures to further restrict and ban abortion.
“Roughly half of states will outright ban or significantly limit abortion in the next year, and some have plans for immediate restriction.”
The verdict has prompted worldwide outrage, as the overturning of Roe v Wade has already had an immediate and catastrophic impact on women and girls across the US.
There have been reported spikes of women requesting to be sterilised and men asking for vasectomies following the verdict, as well as people across the country panic-buying and stockpiling the morning-after pill.
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This week, a report united the world in anger as a child rape victim in Ohio was denied an abortion following the overturning of Roe v Wade.
The 10-year-old girl was six weeks pregnant and unable by law to obtain an abortion in her home state of Ohio, with its six week trigger ban already in effect.
As a result, she and her family were forced to cross state lines in order to gain abortion access in Indiana.
Abortion is not yet banned in Indiana, but it is expected that the state will imposed bans or restrictions later this month.
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The devastating case has prompted a global conversation. CNN‘s Dana Bash spoke to Krisi Noem, Republican governor of South Dakota, where abortion is a criminal act, even in cases of incest and rape.
Bash asked Noem if she would look to change the law if a case like this happened in South Dakota in order to give the child victim access to an abortion.
“I don’t believe a tragic situation should be perpetuated by another tragedy,” answered Noem. “There’s more that we have got to do to make sure that we really are living a life that says every life is precious, especially innocent lives that have been shattered, like that 10-year-old girl.”
She later continued: “Every single life – every single life is precious. This tragedy is horrific. But, in South Dakota, the law today is that the abortions are illegal, except to save the life of the mother.”
We will continue to update this story.
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