A lawyer on Friday emailed the Indiana state’s attorney general asking him to stop spreading false or misleading information about an Indianapolis doctor who performed an abortion in June on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio.
Attorney Kathleen DeLaney sent the “cease and desist” letter to Indiana Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita on behalf of obstetrician-gynecologist Caitlin Bernard, who performed a medical abortion on the girl.
The letter says Rokita’s statements Wednesday on Fox News “cast Dr. Bernard in a false light and allege misconduct in her profession.” DeLaney said the doctor could file a defamation claim against Rokita if he does not comply.
Rokita told Fox that he would investigate whether Bernard violated child abuse notification or abortion reporting laws. He also said his office would look into whether anything Bernard said to The Indianapolis Star about the case violated federal medical privacy laws. He offered no specific allegations of wrongdoing.
Records obtained by The Associated Press and other local media show Bernard submitted the report July 2, which is within the state’s required three-day reporting period for an abortion performed on a girl younger than 16.
“We are especially concerned that, given the controversial political context of the statements, such inflammatory accusations have the potential to incite harassment or violence from the public which could prevent Dr. Bernard, an Indiana licensed physician, from providing care to her patents safely,” the letter states.
A 27-year-old man has been charged in the girl’s rape, which was scrutinized by Republican politicians and some media outlets. Those reactions grew in intensity after Democratic President Joe Biden expressed sympathy for the girl when signing an executive order protecting some abortion access last week.
“Like any correspondence, it will be reviewed if and when it arrives. Regardless, no false or misleading statements have been made,” Kelly Stevenson, a spokesperson in Rokita’s office, said via email.
Bernard tweeted Friday that she hopes “to be able to share my story soon.”
“It has been a difficult week, but my colleagues and I will continue to provide health care ethically, lovingly, and bravely each and every day,” she wrote.
Dr. Diana Contreras, chief health care officer at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, issued a statement saying, “No medical provider should be harassed, intimidated, or criminalized for doing their job. It is unconscionable and unacceptable, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
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It sounds like Mr. Rokita wanted to perform some political grand standing on national news before doing much research into the situation. I am glad that his office has all of Indiana’s other issues covered so he can spend his time (and our tax money) trying to score political points on a national level.
I second that!
This shows Rokita’s true colors and his complete incompetence in understanding his role. Any good AG knows to mark words carefully before judging. All he wants is to, as previously stated, score political points. Congratulations, Todd, you scored -100 pts with me! Bye, bye!
Rokita might be the worst politician this state has ever seen!
Imagine exploiting a 10 year old’s rape and trauma so you can get on Fox News and spew lies. Todd Rokita = heap of garbage.
Quote, “….exploiting a 10-year-old’s rape and trauma….”
Isn’t that exactly what Dr. Caitlin Bernard and the girl’s handlers did, Pat B, not to mention all the pro-abortionists clear up to and including the dopey, dementia-addled, base-sucking-up-to Joe Biden?
It’s a two-way street, you know, although I agree that AG Rokita should have gone about the investigation without mentioning it to anyone until conclusions had been reached.
You can claim it’s a two way street. One side of that street is one lane and the other is a multiple lane interstate.
Rokita deserves to be reprimanded for his behavior, and he should be sued for defamation for spouting off without having all the facts.
It’s one things for Internet clowns like us to spout off without all the facts. But the chief legal officer of the State of Indiana is held to a higher standard, at his choice. He’s using his office – and our tax dollars – to campaign for other offices. All he’s actually doing is making people miss Curtis Hill.
I mean, he’s making an abortion doctor a sympathetic figure, Bob.
I thought the issue being raised was the doctor calling a press conference instead of reporting a crime, and for violating the hippa laws.
The crime was reported a week before the abortion took place.
Blaming the doctor is very convenient for both the Ohio and Indiana AG’s who decided to rush to score political points and make political statements instead of doing a modicum of research. Both of them managed to make an abortion doctor look good.
https://news.yahoo.com/know-10-old-ohio-girl-125312443.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJE0AVifjlFVf-8mS7oRhhtqrknedopBySr2pWjvN0ytpnSjRugTTuNG2tTveaZ2LivuMRouFcccX_sYukO9vm6MdSj3x2Hlo1r3EtKndcLPzx2lF9tUnFl6EDH3u8079Ou9YcpNVex-fPZGaaGot3EGEPX_pAmJlIGubB9mbUFq