Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is calling on the state’s Medical Licensing Board to punish a doctor who spoke publicly about performing an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim.
Rokita claimed that Dr. Caitlin Bernard “failed to uphold legal and Hippocratic responsibilities by exploiting a 10-year-old little girl's traumatic medical story to the press for her own interests.” Rokita said that the doctor violated patient privacy laws, although Bernard never disclosed the victim's name.
Bernard told media outlets she performed an abortion on the 10-year-old just weeks after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, which allowed states to develop their own laws on abortions. Ohio put strict limits on abortions in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Bernard said the girl had to travel to Indiana to seek an abortion.
Rokita claimed that Bernard was also required to report that the girl had been raped.
Bernard has denied Rokita’s charges.
The incident initially brought skepticism from conservative newsmakers who doubted the story, including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. Then, reports surfaced that a Columbus, Ohio, man was charged in the rape of the 10-year-old.
Abortion-choice proponents have used the case to bolster their arguments for legal abortions.