A grand jury on Thursday indicted the alleged perpetrator of the rape of a nine-year-old American woman who was forced to travel from Ohio to neighboring Indiana for an abortion after the US Supreme Court repealed statewide abortion laws.

Gerson Fuentes, allegedly an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested two weeks ago.

As the twenty-seven-year-old admitted, he had raped the girl at least twice.

The attacks on the then nine-year-old are said to have taken place between January and mid-May.

According to previous investigations, the now ten-year-old girl traveled from her home state of Ohio to Indiana on June 30 to have an abortion there.

Her case had sparked outrage in the United States because a Supreme Court decision made a six-week abortion illegal in Ohio.

Midwestern state law also prohibits terminations after the sixth week for cases of rape, incest, and fetal disease.

Fuentes, who has worked as a waiter in Columbus for the past seven years, is now awaiting trial in a Franklin County jail.