November 30, 2022: Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita asked today for the state medical board to formally penalize abortionist Caitlin Bernard. Rokita has accused Bernard of violating state law, because she did not report the rape of a 10-year-old Ohio girl to Indiana authorities. Bernard also is accused of violating patient privacy laws by telling a newspaper about the rape and abortion. Bernard claims she didn’t need to inform Indiana authorities because Ohio authorities already knew.
“Dr. Bernard violated the law, her patient’s trust, and the standards for the medical profession when she disclosed her patient’s abuse, medical issues, and medical treatment to a reporter at an abortion rights rally to further her political agenda,” Rokita’s office said in a statement. “Simply concealing the patient’s name falls far short of her legal and ethical duties here.”
November 28, 2022: Caitlin Bernard, an Indiana abortionist who committed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim and then went to the press about it, believes Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita should not have access to patient medical records in this case. In response, Rokita said that Bernard exploited the rape victim, using the young girl “to further her [Bernard’s] own political agenda.”
Bernard sued Rokita earlier this month in retaliation for an investigation he opened into her practices. Rokita had sought to subpoena the 10-year-old Ohio rape victim’s medical records as part of his investigation, as numerous questions remained.
In her testimony, Bernard stated, “There is no evidence of any crime being committed… so there should be no investigation necessary,” she said, claiming the rape had already been reported to both Ohio police and child protective services before Bernard committed the abortion.
Deputy Attorney General Caryn Nieman-Szyper, however, pointed out that Indiana law still required Bernard to report the abuse immediately to police and child welfare officials in Indiana.
Bernard committed the abortion on June 30th; at 5:00 am the very next day, the Indianapolis Star published its story about the rape and abortion. This meant Bernard immediately notified the media, who then put the story together very quickly in order to have a turnaround time of less than 24 hours. In contrast, Bernard filed a report about the rape the next day — July 2nd — long after she had notified the media. She also incorrectly listed the rapist’s age as 17. Bernard has been accused of covering up child rape in the past.
In his statement, Rokita said, “If the doctor did not choose to use her patient, a 10-year-old rape victim, to further her own political agenda, we would not be here today. There is no defensible reason for this doctor to shatter her 10-year-old patient’s trust by divulging her abortion procedure to a reporter so her traumatizing experience could be used in the polarizing abortion debate on the heels of Dobbs.”
He concluded:
The evidence strongly suggests that the doctor violated the mandatory reporting law, which required her to immediately report the child’s abuse to Indiana authorities. Only by reporting to Indiana authorities immediately, as called for by statute, might the little girl have been spared from potentially being sent back to her perpetrator.
This doctor demands immunity from all scrutiny, but her remedy is before the Medical Licensing Board, not an injunction from this Court. We believe she has failed to carry her burden of proof and that the Office of the Attorney General should be free to continue its statutory duty to hold physicians and other practitioners to the standards of the law.
