Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) joined in Thursday on the continuing lashing criticism of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) over his disdainful dismissal of the plight of a 10-year-old rape victim forced to travel from Ohio to obtain an abortion in Indiana last month.
Jordan called the initial report a lie — until Columbus police arrested a man who confessed to rape earlier this week.
“A 10-year-old rape victim was called a liar by the ranking member of this committee,” Swalwell said of Jordan at a hearing into the girl’s plight by the House Judiciary Committee.
Jordan disparaged the story because he hates what the situation highlights, said Swalwell — that the Supreme Court’s ruling jettisoning Roe v. Wade, and the draconian state laws that followed, will “bring us government-mandated pregnancies for 10-year-olds, fourth-graders, little girls.”
Jordan’s dismissal of the girl’s plight is part of the Republican strategy to veil the fact that they “don’t just want to wage a war on women. They’re now expanding it to a war on little girls,” Swalwell said.
In what appeared to underscore Swalwell’s warning, a prominent anti-abortion lawyer said Thursday that the 10-year-old should have been made to carry the baby to term.
Jim Bopp, general counsel for the anti-abortion group National Right to Life who crafted model state anti-abortion laws, told Politico, “She would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child.”
Jordan deleted a snarky tweet about the heartbreaking story on Wednesday after police announced the arrest of her suspected rapist. He did not apologize, nor express any compassion for the girl.
His high-handed dismissal of her plight was particularly ironic given the numerous Ohio State University athletes who were sexually assaulted by the school’s sports doctor, many of whom were students while Jordan was assistant coach of the university wrestling team. Several wrestlers have accused Jordan of knowing about the sexual assaults but doing nothing about them, which he has denied.
The university revealed in a 2019 investigative report that Dr. Richard Strauss committed at least 1,429 sexual assaults and 47 rapes on his student patients during his 20-year tenure from 1978-1998 at the university. Strauss was never charged and died by suicide in 2005.
Others also piled on Jordan at the Judiciary Committee hearing. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) called on “any MAGA Republican who smeared this little girl to publicly apologize.”
Jordan expressed no remorse about his role. He inexplicably blamed the media — and President Joe Biden.
The child was able to obtain an abortion in Indiana, but the law is expected to change there soon, possibly banning abortion for rape victims, including children. The Indiana General Assembly will discuss changes to the law in a special session on July 25.
Indiana’s Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) told Fox News Wednesday that state authorities are investigating the doctor who performed the abortion.
Rokita said the physician is being investigated for possible failure to report abuse, even though the abuse had already been reported in the girl’s home state of Ohio and police were seeking her rapist there.