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Indiana AG wants penalty for doctor who spoke about 10-year-old’s abortion : NPR


Caitlin Bernard, a reproductive health care provider, speaks during an abortion rights rally on June 25, 2022, at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

Jenna Watson/AP


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Jenna Watson/AP


Caitlin Bernard, a reproductive health care provider, speaks during an abortion rights rally on June 25, 2022, at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

Jenna Watson/AP

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s Republican attorney general on Wednesday asked the state’s medical licensing board to discipline a doctor in Indianapolis who spoke out publicly about providing abortion services to a victim. 10-year-old raped victim from Ohio after the state’s more restrictive abortion law went into effect.

The complaint alleges Dr Caitlin Bernard violated state law by not reporting the girl’s child abuse to Indiana authorities and violated patient privacy laws by telling a press reporter how girl’s treatment.

That account caused a national political uproar in the weeks after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, with several news outlets and Republican politicians claiming that Bernard was falsely fabricated and President Joe Biden nearly shouting his outrage over the case during a press conference. of the Whites. home event.

Bernard and her attorneys allege that the girl’s abuse was reported to Ohio police and child protective services officials before the doctor saw the child. A 27-year-old man has been charged in Columbus, Ohio, with raping a girl.

Bernard’s attorneys argue that Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, who is staunchly anti-abortion, has spread false or misleading information about the doctor with his investigative allegations over the past few days. month.

The attorney general’s complaint asked the licensing board to take “appropriate disciplinary action” but did not specify the requested punishment. The state licensing board ensures physicians have the appropriate training and education to practice in the state and may suspend, revoke, or put on probation a physician’s license.

“Dr. Bernard violated the law, patient trust and medical industry standards by disclosing patient abuse, medical problems and treatment to a reporter at a rally. advocate for abortion rights to further its political agenda,” the office said. in a statement. “Just hiding the patient’s name is inconsistent with her legal and ethical obligations here.”

The attorney general’s office filed the lawsuit as an Indianapolis judge considered whether to stop the attorney general’s office from trying to obtain a patient’s medical records for investigation. The judge’s ruling is expected later this week.

Kathleen DeLaney, Bernard’s attorney, pointed to testimony from that investigation, including from Bernard, who on November 21 testified that both child abuse regulators and law enforcement All laws in Ohio were relevant to the incident before the child went to Indiana for treatment.

Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Katharine Melnick also testified that day and said child abuse would be reported by hospital social workers, not doctors, and that such reports would be forwarded to the hospital. to the law enforcement agency where the crime occurred.

“While I am disappointed that he has placed my client in this position, we are not surprised to see that Mr. Rokita is always trying to use his office to find ways to punish those whom he does not want. agree to the cost to the taxpayers of Indiana,” DeLaney said in a statement. Wednesday.

Bernard was treating the girl in Indianapolis in late June, when she said doctors determined the girl could not have an abortion in neighboring Ohio. That’s because Ohio’s “fetal heartbeat” law went into effect with the Supreme Court’s June 24 decision. Such laws prohibit abortion from the time when heart activity can be detected in the embryo, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy, before many people realize they are pregnant.

Deputy Attorney General Caryn Nieman-Szyper said in court last week that Bernard would not have been investigated had she not disclosed the girl’s rape to a reporter to promote her own abortion rights.

Nieman-Szyper said Bernard failed to show she had permission from the girl’s family to discuss her care in public, bringing the child to national attention.
Bernard testified that she spoke to an Indianapolis Star reporter about the girl’s impending abortion at an event protesting the Supreme Court’s abortion decision.

After the newspaper cited that case in a July 1 article about patients going to Indiana for abortions because of more restrictive laws elsewhere, Rokita told Fox News he would investigate the actions of Bernard, calling her “abortion activist acting as a doctor.”

Rokita continued the investigation even after rape allegations were filed in Ohio, and public records obtained by the Associated Press show Bernard met Indiana’s required three-day reporting deadlines. for an abortion performed on a girl younger than 16 years old.

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