Indiana AG Insists on Punishing Doctor Who Gave Abortion to 10-Year-Old Rape Victim [View all]

[In It to Win It]

Jezebel

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita apparently will not stop until he’s punished Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who provided an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim who had to travel from Ohio to end her pregnancy.

In his latest salvo, Rokita’s office filed a complaint asking the Indiana medical licensing board to discipline Bernard, saying she violated the law by telling a reporter that she would be treating the child in Indiana, given Ohio’s abortion ban that took effect right after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The complaint also alleges that Bernard did not properly report the abuse to state authorities. Notably, Rokita isn’t claiming she violated the law by providing the child an abortion; he’s just trying to punish her in any other way possible. The reasoning behind Rokita’s incessant work against Bernard is clear: She publicly discussed a case in which abortion was obviously, inarguably a net good and necessary to protect the girl’s life.

Bernard’s attorney, Kathleen DeLaney, called the move a “last-ditch effort to intimidate Dr. Bernard and other providers of abortion care.” She went on: “Though I am disappointed he has put my client in this position, we are not surprised given Mr. Rokita’s consistent efforts to use his office to seek to punish those with whom he disagrees at the expense of Indiana taxpayers.”