Ohio's ban on abortions forces 10-year-old rape victim to travel to Indiana

Days after the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling, a 10-year-old rape victim had to travel all the way to Indiana from Ohio to get an abortion.

Ohio outlawed any abortion after six weeks into the pregnancy soon after the Supreme Court overturned the ruling on June 24.

"It's hard to imagine that in just a few short weeks we will have no ability to provide that care," said Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis-based obstetrician-gynaecologist who treated the 10-year-old girl.

Ohio is among the US states that have removed access to safe abortions after the court eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion. A 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling had legalised abortion in the United States.

"The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives" the Supreme Court ruling said. It essentially implies that all US states are now free to make their own abortion rules.

Indiana may itself pass a law banning abortions later this month during a special session of its legislature. If that happens, residents of neighbouring states like Kentucky and Ohio will have to seek other options.

Abortion remains a deeply divisive issue in the United States that is dear to their voters' hearts. Around a dozen states are expected to make abortions illegal soon, per a report in The Independent.

States like Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wisconsin have banned nearly all abortions after the June 24 ruling. Utah was the first state to outlaw abortions after the ruling came into effect on the evening of June 24. However, there are states that have not banned abortions yet.

In fact, many states have vowed to protect women's reproductive rights. States that currently still allow abortions include Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada and several others.

Prior to the Roe v Wade ruling in 1973, as many as 30 US States had a ban on abortions and the ruling had come as huge sigh of relief for women. However, the latest decision to overturn the ruling has undone years of efforts to protect women's rights on their bodies.