INDIANAPOLIS –
The attorney for an Indiana doctor at the center of a political firestorm after speaking out about a 10-year-old child abuse victim who traveled from Ohio for an abortion said Thursday his client provided proper treatment and did not violate any privacy laws. of the patient in discussing the case of the unidentified girl.
Attorney Kathleen DeLaney issued the statement on behalf of Indianapolis OB/GYN Caitlin Bernard on the same day Indiana Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita said his office was investigating Bernard’s actions. He did not offer specific allegations of wrongdoing.
A 27-year-old man was charged Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, with raping the girl, confirming the existence of a case initially greeted with skepticism by some media outlets and Republican politicians. The pushback grew after Democratic President Joe Biden expressed empathy for the girl during the signing of an executive order last week aimed at protecting some abortion access in the wake of the US Supreme Court ruling that overturned the constitutional protection for abortion.
Bernard’s attorney said the doctor “took all reasonable and appropriate steps consistent with the law and his medical and ethical training as a physician.”
“She followed all relevant policies, procedures and regulations in this case, just as she does every day to provide the best possible care for her patients,” DeLaney said in a statement. “She has not violated any laws, including patient privacy laws, and her employer has not disciplined her.”
Bernard reported a medical abortion on June 30 for a 10-year-old patient to the state health department on July 2, within the three-day requirement in state law for a girl under 16, according to a report. Obtained by The Indianapolis Star. and WXIN-TV of Indianapolis under public records requests. The report stated that the girl seeking the abortion had been abused.
DeLaney said they are considering taking legal action against “those who defamed my client,” including Rokita, who said she would investigate whether Bernard violated abortion or child abuse reporting laws. She also said her office would investigate whether anything Bernard told the Star about the case violated federal medical privacy laws. The US Department of Health and Human Services did not say whether any privacy law complaints had been filed against Bernard, nor did Indiana University Health, where Bernard is an obstetrician. But the HIPAA privacy rule only protects most “individually identifiable health information,” the department’s website said.
The prosecutor in Indianapolis, where the abortion took place, said only his office has the authority to bring criminal charges in such situations and that Bernard was being “subjected to intimidation and harassment.”
“I think it’s really dangerous when people in law enforcement start trying to start a criminal investigation based on rumors on the internet,” Marion County Democratic District Attorney Ryan Mears said.
Some Republicans who have backed the strict abortion restrictions imposed in Ohio after the Supreme Court ruling, including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, initially questioned whether the story Bernard told the newspaper was true. After telling Fox News on Monday that there was “not a whisper” of evidence to support the existence of the case, Yost said his “heart aches for the pain suffered by this little boy” and that his investigative unit is ready to support the police in the case.
On Thursday, Yost faced intense backlash for her public statements, including asserting that medical exceptions in Ohio’s “stillbirth” abortion ban would have allowed the girl to have an abortion in the state.
In response, he apparently posted a “legal explanation” detailing the law’s medical exceptions. Abortion rights advocates and attorneys said the law’s medical exceptions — for the life of the mother, serious risks of bodily harm and ectopic pregnancies — would not have protected an Ohio doctor who performed an abortion on the girl from be processed.
Bernard did not respond to emails and text messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
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Carr Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.