On a recent episode of “Meet the Press,” NBC News’ Chuck Todd asked Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson what would happen if a 13-year-old in his home state were impregnated after getting raped by a relative. “Are you comfortable with that?” the host asked.
The Republican governor grudgingly conceded that if a 13-year-old Arkansan is impregnated after getting raped by a relative, that pregnancy could not be voluntarily terminated. Before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, an abortion for that child would’ve been a legal option, but not anymore.
Around the same time, Philip Gunn, the Republican state House Speaker in Mississippi, considered a similar question and said abortion should be illegal even for a 12-year-old who’d been raped by a relative.
In both instances, these GOP officials were asked about hypothetical scenarios involving impregnated children. Occasionally, however, the public is confronted with a scenario that appears to be rooted in fact. The Indianapolis Star Tribune reported:
On Monday three days after the Supreme Court issued its groundbreaking decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, took a call from a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio. Hours after the Supreme Court action, the Buckeye state had outlawed any abortion after six weeks. Now this doctor had a 10-year-old patient in the office who was six weeks and three days pregnant. Could Bernard help?
While the details about the child have been withheld, it appears that the girl was scheduled to receive care in Indiana last week.
Of course, it’s worth emphasizing for context that this door will also soon be closed: Indiana’s Republican governor and Republican-led legislature are moving forward with plans to impose new abortion restrictions. But since the Hoosier State didn’t act quite as quickly as Ohio to limit reproductive rights, the 10-year-old girl’s physician was able to pursue an out-of-state option.
Indiana’s General Assembly will convene in a special session later this month to debate a new abortion ban.
Will a real-world story like this cause some Republicans to reconsider their positions? CNN’s Dana Bash pressed South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on this point.









