Indiana AG asks for penalty for doctor who spoke of 10-year-old's abortion

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Indiana Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita asked the state medical licensing board to discipline a doctor who has spoken publicly about providing an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim who had traveled from Ohio.

The complaint alleges that Dr. Caitlin Bernard violated state law by not reporting the girl’s abuse to state authorities, as well as violated patient privacy laws by telling an Indianapolis Star reporter about the girl’s treatment.

The controversial account made waves in the weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Some media outlets and politicians falsely suggested that the story had been made up. A 27-year-old man has since been charged with raping the girl in Columbus, Ohio.

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Doctor Caitlin Bernard in Indianapolis on Sept. 28, 2022.  (Kaiti Sullivan for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Bernard and her attorneys maintain that the girl's abuse had already been reported to the authorities in Ohio before she ever saw her, and argue that the anti-abortion Rokita has been spreading misleading or false information about the Indianapolis physician for months.

Rokita's complaint asked the board to impose "appropriate disciplinary action."

"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," the attorney general's office said in a Wednesday statement. "Simply concealing the patient’s name falls far short of her legal and ethical duties here."

Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., who is running for the Republican nomination for Senate in Indiana, addresses the Steuben County Lincoln Day Dinner in Angola, Indiana, on April 4, 2018.  (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)

"This case is not about whether an abortion was performed. It also is not about the office exposing anyone’s medical file. Those were arguments designed to thwart our investigation into the physician’s behavior," it added.

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Following an article from the newspaper in July, Rokita told Fox News that he would investigate Bernard's actions and has continued the investigation even after rape charges were filed. Public records obtained by The Associated Press show Bernard met Indiana’s required three-day reporting period for an abortion performed on a girl younger than 16.

Abortion rights activists react after the Indiana Senate votes to ban abortion inside the Indiana State house during a special session in Indianapolis in August.  (Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Deputy Attorney General Caryn Nieman-Szyper said last week that Bernard would not be under investigation if she had not disclosed the girl’s rape to a reporter to advance her own advocacy of abortion rights, adding that Bernard had not shown she had permission from the girl’s family to discuss her care in public.

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Bernard said doctors determined that the girl was unable to have an abortion in Ohio due to the state's "fetal heartbeat" law banning abortions from the time cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo – before the mother realizes that she is pregnant.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.