The authorities of Indiana announced, this Thursday, July 14, that they were investigating a gynecologist who helped a ten-year-old girl to have an abortion after a rape. Indeed, a doctor of the State of Indiana, Caitlin Bernard reported, last June 27, that she had received a call from a colleague of Ohio asking her to help a 10 years old girl, pregnant since six weeks and three days.
In this northern state, neighboring Indiana, the Supreme Court’s decision on June 24 to no longer guarantee the right to terminate a pregnancy immediately allowed a law to come into effect prohibiting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The girl, who was raped in May by a man who was arrested on Tuesday, was past that point. The child had to go to Indiana, which has not yet legislated on the issue, to be taken in charge and have an abortion.
Indiana prosecutor criticizes Dr. Bernard’s actions
But officials in Republican-majority Indiana are hostile to abortion rights and are considering banning the procedure as well. Meanwhile, the state’s attorney general lashed out Wednesday night at Dr. Bernard, accusing him of failing to report the girl’s case to authorities, as he is required to do under local child abuse law.
“We have this pro-abortion activist, who claims to be a doctor, and is known for not making the required reports,” Todd Rokita said on Fox News. “So we’re gathering the information, the evidence, and we’re going to fight this to the end,” he continued, threatening to revoke “her professional license, if she didn’t inform us.”
”She did not break any law”
The lawyer of Caitlin Bernard
Indiana’s jurisdiction requires health care providers to report abortions they perform to the Indiana Department of Health, including if the patient has indicated that they want to be considered for an abortion as a result of abuse. And not reporting it would be a misdemeanor.
“My client, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, has taken all appropriate steps in accordance with the law and her medical and ethical training as a physician,” Kathleen Delaney, her attorney, wrote in an email that local media outlet the Indy Star was able to obtain. “She followed all relevant policies, procedures and regulations in this case, as she does every day to provide the best possible care to her patients. She did not violate any laws, including patient confidentiality laws, and she was not sanctioned by her employer,” she added.
This tragic case was cited on Friday, July 8, by Democratic President Joe Biden to decry the Supreme Court ruling. “Ten years! Raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized and now forced to travel to another state!” he said.
But until the suspect’s arrest, the conservative press and several Ohio officials had expressed doubts about the veracity of the drama. Now, opponents of abortion accuse abortion advocates of “using” the girl to promote their cause and blame her misfortune on Joe Biden’s migration policy, since her alleged attacker was an illegal Guatemalan immigrant.