Nov 30 (Reuters) - Indiana's attorney general on Wednesday asked the state's medical board to discipline an Indiana doctor who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio in a case that became a flashpoint in the debate over access to the procedure.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, accused Dr. Caitlin Bernard of "violating a patient’s privacy rights" and the obligation to immediately report child abuse to Indiana authorities.
Rokita has been investigating whether Dr. Bernard followed state law requiring doctors to report abortions, even though public records showed Dr. Bernard promptly reported the abortion as required.
His office asked the state's medical licensing board to determine the appropriate penalty for Dr. Bernard, ranging from a letter of reprimand to permanent revocation of her medical license.
Kathleen DeLaney, Dr. Bernard's lawyer, said in a statement on Wednesday that her client had complied with all reporting requirements and had discussed the girl's case "within the bounds of applicable privacy laws."
"The Administrative Action filed today by Mr. Rokita is clearly a last-ditch effort to intimidate Dr. Bernard and other providers of abortion care," DeLaney said.
The doctor has said the child was referred to her for an abortion just three days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that had guaranteed federal abortion rights.
Ohio was among the states that quickly enforced strict limits on abortion in the wake of the June ruling, sometimes without exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
The attorney general is not questioning whether the girl met the Indiana statutory requirement that she be no more than 22 weeks pregnant. When Dr. Bernard learned of the situation, the girl was three days past the six-week limit in Ohio.
News of the 10-year-old's case launched a bitter legal battle between Dr. Bernard and Rokita.
Dr. Bernard and her medical partner sued Rokita earlier this month, demanding an end to investigations seeking medical records about patients and their abortions. The lawsuit accused Rokita's investigation of being a "sham" and said it violated requirements that investigations be based on merit, narrowly focused and kept confidential. read more
Dr. Bernard's suit said the subpoenas she had received from the attorney general were based on complaints from people who had only heard of the case on the news and repeated the false claim that Dr. Bernard failed to submit a report.
Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
oldapples1979 on November 30th, 2022 at 23:04 UTC »
This is why I got out of the prosecuting biz. I was a state level prosecutor for years. I was fresh out of law school, majorly liberal, and thought the best way to break a broken justice system was to play inside the cheating team and fix it. So young and naive. I could fix nothing. When everybody around me was willing to use the GIANT amount of power we were each granted to go after pet issues and score political points I realized there was nothing I could say or do to stop them. It is mesmerizing the amount of power prosecutors have. They can totally know they have no shot of winning a case yet file charges anyway, just to drag someone around the court system for months (or years) before finally going "eh I guess we will move to nolle this one, Judge." And no one bats an eye that someone was subjected to the hell of monthly court dates and possible years imprisonment all for nothing. The case being dismissed is supposed to show "the system works." No it Fucking doesn't! It just shows that particular prosecutor got bored with fucking with that person and moved on to someone else. I'm a public defender now and feel like I can do much more on this side, although the system is still utter garbage. But if I don't at least get in and try to do some small part then I don't have the right to bitch that it's broken. But it's tough to watch people abuse their power day after day. It gets really demoralizing . But I have it way better than the person who is being abused by it so that's why I stay in. This prosecutor Indiana is such a bastard, but sadly not a rare bastard. There's lots of him floating around. Ugh.
geekmasterflash on November 30th, 2022 at 22:13 UTC »
I am fairly certain that this is going to cost Indiana tax payers a huge amount in a settlement, for a bunch of things but primary among them will be defamation and prosecutorial misconduct.
It is a matter of factual evidence that the doctor reported it. Not only is that abundantly clear to the prosecutor who can see the paper work itself , but to everyone else because this was widely reported on already. Trying to push for a conviction at this point, is now a criminal undertaking.
Not that I imagine it matters to voters in Indiana, mind you, but harassment of this sort can and should land a prosecutor in jail.
gnarlycarly18 on November 30th, 2022 at 21:38 UTC »
It was before Indiana’s ban was even enacted. How does this make any sense.