Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has called for punishment for a doctor who spoke out about a 10-year-old rape victim traveling from Ohio to Indiana for an abortion.
In a statement on Wednesday, Rokita argued that Dr. Caitlin Bernard broke her oath by speaking about the girl's treatment and failing to report the rape to Indiana authorities quickly enough.
"First, the physician 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's statement said. "Second, she failed to immediately report the abuse and rape of a child to Indiana authorities."
In an Administrative Action filing on Wednesday, Rokita’s office asked the licensing board to punish Bernard by possibly suspending or revoking her medical license.
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"This case is not about whether an abortion was performed," the statement added. "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."
Bernard's remarks to a national paper "sparked a national political uproar in the weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June," according to The Associated Press.
The doctor and her lawyers noted that the child's abuse was reported to Ohio authorities before the abortion was performed. A man has been charged with rape in the case.
Bernard's attorneys accused Rokita of trying to "intimidate physicians."
"The Administrative Action filed today by Mr. Rokita is clearly a last-ditch effort to intimidate Dr. Bernard and other providers of abortion care," attorney Kathleen DeLaney said. "Mr. Rokita is doubling down on the frivolous consumer complaints by referring them to the licensing authorities."
