Doctor That Performed 10-Year-Old Rape Victim's Abortion Speaks Out

A doctor in the US that performed an abortion for a 10-year-old rape victim has spoken out.

There has been significant backlash to the US Supreme Court's decision to end the country's constitutional right to abortion by overturning the historic Roe v Wade judgement last month.

It means that states are now able to enforce strict abortion laws that would have previously been deemed unconstitutional, and as a result, millions of women who want an abortion are now only be able to legally get one by travelling to states where they are accessible.

The court ruling resulted in a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio having to travel to Indiana to get an abortion.

Records show that obstetrician-gynecologist Dr Caitlin Bernard performed the medication-induced abortion on 30 June - though she's unable to confirm this due to privacy laws.

Now, the doctor has spoken out against anti-abortion laws in the US.

In an interview with CBS Evening News, Dr Bernard said: "I think we're at a time in our country where people are starting to realise the impact of these anti-abortion laws.

"This has been going on for a long time — becoming harder and harder in many states for people to access abortion.

"And now when it's finally become impossible for some people, we're realising what that is going to look like, what the real-life implications are for people who need abortion care. I think people realise that that is actually not what they intended.

"That is not what they want for children, for women, to be put in these situations of life-threatening conditions, of traumatic pregnancies. They realise that abortion needs to be safe and legal."

The case of the 10-year-old's abortion drew national attention and Dr Bernard was accused by critics of making it up; however, a 27-year-old man has since been charged with raping the girl, and while the case may be particularly upsetting, Dr Bernard said 'sexual assault in children is not uncommon'.

"Come spend a day in my clinic," she said. "Come see the care that we provide every single day.

"The situations that people find themselves in, and in need of abortion care are some of the most difficult that you could imagine. And that's why we, as physicians, need to be able to provide that care unhindered, that medical decisions need to be made between a physician and their patients." 

She added: "When you take away the right to privacy in your medical decision-making, it puts you in a situation where you don't know where to turn.

"And it makes it incredibly difficult, not just to provide abortion care, but full-spectrum reproductive health care.

"You know, this will affect our ability to take care of miscarriages. This will affect our ability to take care of complications in early pregnancy that could kill someone. This will affect our ability to provide infertility treatment, contraception, the list goes on."

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