The Indiana attorney general stated on Thursday that he was investigating whether the Indiana doctor who conducted an abortion on a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim followed state standards requiring doctors to report pregnancy terminations and probable child abuse cases. In a statement released online with a letter to Indiana’s governor, Attorney General Todd Rokita warned Dr. Caitlin Bernard that she may face ‘criminal prosecution and licensure ramifications’ if she did not submit the required paperwork on time.
Rokita went on to declare that he would look into whether the doctor had violated any federal patient privacy laws. The Indianapolis Star reported that it had obtained documents through public records request that showed Bernard had, in fact, complied with the disclosure requirements in a form she filed with the Indiana Departments of Health and Child Services, rendering the warning appears to be a hollow threat.
Kathleen Delaney, Bernard’s attorney, was also mentioned by the newspaper as asserting that her client took everything appropriate and proper steps, in accordance with the law and her medical and ethical training as a physician. The Indianapolis Star broke the tale of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who had been raped and fled to Indiana to seek an abortion due to an Ohio state law that prohibited the operation at six weeks of pregnancy, when many women aren’t even aware they are pregnant, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
The Ohio girl was three days above Ohio’s six-week restriction when she left her own state to have her pregnancy terminated. On June 24, the Supreme Court overruled the Roe v. Wade decision, which established a constitutional right to an abortion to end a pregnancy. The Ohio prohibition went into force a few hours later.
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