Schooling Jordan, Yost

Recently a 10-year-old Ohio girl was raped by an adult male and had to travel to Indiana for a medical abortion. No 10-year-old should have to experience rape, pregnancy or abortion. A 10-year-old should be able to spend her summer swimming, playing ball, raising rabbits or tomatoes for 4-H, or doing whatever else makes her happy. Avalos But this girl's trauma — already substantial — was compounded when Ohio politicians decided to add insult to injury by claiming that she did not exist and that her story was simply fabricated by pro-choice activists. Without any regard for what this young girl had already been through, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost stated, on Fox News, that his office had not heard "a whisper" of a report being filed that matched the girl's account. He added later, while speaking to another news outlet, that "Every day that goes by, the more likely that this is a fabrication," and "there is not a damn scintilla of evidence. And shame on the Indianapolis paper that ran this thing on a single source who has an obvious axe to grind." Jordan and Yost U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, whose 4th District includes voters here, also got involved, tweeting that the story of a 10-year-old getting an abortion was a "lie" and refusing to apologize for his tweet when proof emerged that the story was true. Do these politicians think that 10-year-olds are never raped and never get pregnant? And that they never grow up and vote? When Yost and Jordan inserted themselves into the story, this young girl became a political pawn at the hands of men who have never been pregnant, and who cannot possibly fathom what it's like for a 10-year-old to experience pregnancy after sexual assault. If they could, they would never have denigrated her experience the way they did. What was it like for this girl to watch helplessly as politicians tried to erase her and her experience from the face of the earth? Yost and Jordan showed no empathy for this young girl. And what would have happened if her rapist had not been identified? Our politicians would still be erasing her. So let's set the record straight about sexual assault, so that Yost and Jordan can avoid causing more harm to survivors in the future. Lesson One: Most sexual assaults are not reported to police; less than a third of victims do report. Most often, survivors don't report because they are afraid that police won't believe them or won't do anything to help. Since most victims know their perpetrators, they may fear that they will end up in more danger if they tell police and police don't help them. Bottom line from Lesson One: It is entirely possible for a child to be raped and impregnated in Ohio without police ever learning about it. In 2020, 52 children under the age of 15 received abortions in Ohio. Each one of these 52 pregnancies was the result of rape, because none of these girls had reached the age of consent. It is unknown how many of these rapes were reported to police and how many of the rapists were prosecuted and convicted. Lesson Two: Empathy and humility carry more weight than arrogance in the fight to decrease unwanted pregnancies and end sexual assault. Yost and Jordan arrogantly assumed that if a child in Ohio was raped and got pregnant, they would know about it. Shame on them. Just because a rape victim doesn't report to police doesn't mean she wasn't raped. Most victims' stories are not public, but many of them vote. Try to understand their humanity and what they have been through. Recovering from a sexual assault is a massive task and can take years. There are many, many survivors of sexual assault in Ohio. Try to understand that, Mr. Yost and Mr. Jordan. Lesson Three: Law enforcement disbelief of rape victims is common. Just ask Arica Waters, who was prosecuted in Ottawa County for falsely reporting a rape but was ultimately acquitted because there was no evidence that she had lied. Yost decided to prosecute Waters when local prosecutors refused to do so, so the blame for this prosecution really rests with him. Prosecuting rape victims has a chilling effect; it prevents other victims from coming forward out of concern that they too will be disbelieved by police and prosecuted. Prosecuting victims is therefore a good idea if the aim is to silence victims. But if the priority is to identify and prosecute perpetrators, it is best to stick to the hard work of investigating and prosecuting sexual assault. That includes encouraging victims to come forward with a Start By Believing campaign, and establishing Sexual Assault Response Teams in every Ohio community. Lesson Four: Lawmakers need to educate themselves about the sexual assault of children before they pass further laws restricting abortion access. Most people want abortion to remain legal in some circumstances, particularly in cases of rape and incest. Forcing pregnancy on children is terrible public policy. Research has established that compared to adults, children who give birth are at greater risk of severe complications including hemorrhage, prolonged and difficult labor, severe anemia and other issues; they are also more likely to give birth to low birth-weight infants. It is a crime and a tragedy every time a child is raped. We should not compound that tragedy by forcing children to carry a pregnancy to term. We need to make sure we are doing all we can to protect children from sexual assault before we restrict their access to abortion. Avalos is a professor with the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University. She is an expert in the field of sex crimes investigation and author of numerous studies about violence against women.