Global Courant 2023-05-26 12:52:26
An Indiana board of directors voted Thursday to reprimand Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis doctor who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim and then shared the information about the procedure with the media.
The Indiana State Medical Licensing Board fined Bernard $3,000 after she was found to have violated privacy laws by publicly discussing the surgery.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, also charged Bernard with violating state law by failing to report the child abuse to state law enforcement, but the board rejected the charge.
The board also denied a request from the Attorney General’s office to suspend Bernard’s license.
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Dr. Caitlin Bernard in Indianapolis on Sept. 28, 2022. (Kaiti Sullivan for The Washington Post via Getty Images) (Kaiti Sullivan for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Last year, days after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Bernard performed the abortion on the girl, who traveled across state lines for the procedure.
The incident sparked a national debate over abortion as states were pressured to pass their own laws on the legality of abortion. Many states had so-called trigger laws that took effect to ban abortion as soon as the Supreme Court issued its ruling.
The state argued that Bernard had committed a “flagrant violation” of patient privacy and said she had not shared information about the rape with Indiana’s Department of Child Services or the police.
The Indiana attorney general told Fox News that Bernard’s actions suggested to him that she was an “abortion activist acting as a physician.”
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Deputy Attorney General Cory Voight argued Thursday that Bernard was not acting in her patient’s best interests.
“There hasn’t been a case like this before the board of directors,” Voight said. “No doctor has been so bold in pursuing their own agenda.”
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita argued that Dr. Caitlin Bernard, a physician in Indianapolis, violated privacy laws when she discussed a patient’s abortion with a reporter. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Bernard testified to her own innocence and repeatedly defended her actions, telling the board on Thursday that she had followed Indiana’s reporting requirements.
She also said she notified social workers at the hospital about the child abuse, confirmed that the girl’s rape was already under investigation by Ohio authorities, and that she and her lawyers claimed they had no identifying information about the girl. had released.
The board members failed to reach a consensus on their decision, as Dr John Strobel, chairman of the medical board, said Bernard went too far in notifying a reporter of the girl’s abortion, while board member Dr Bharat Barai claimed that Bernard was the had not violated privacy laws.
“I don’t think she expected this to go viral,” Strobel said of Bernard. “I don’t think she expected this patient to get so much attention. It did. It happened.’
Bernard was given the chance to defend her actions and was specifically asked why she discussed the 10-year-old’s rape with a reporter.
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“I think it’s incredibly important for people to understand the real impact of this country’s laws on abortion,” Bernard replied. “I think it’s important for people to know what patients are going to have to go through because of legislation that gets passed, and a hypothetical doesn’t make that impact.”
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which provided federal protection for abortion, last summer. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
She also claimed that Voight turned the situation into a “political stunt.”
“I think if the Attorney General, Todd Rokita, hadn’t chosen to make this his political stunt, we wouldn’t be here today,” Bernard said.
Thursday’s hearing lasted about 13 hours. Indiana’s board consists of five doctors and a lawyer. Each member was appointed or reappointed by Republican Governor Eric Holcomb.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
