The attorney representing the doctor who performed a legal abortion on a 10-year-old girl from Ohio said the Indiana attorney general’s investigation into his client was “riddled with inaccuracies.”
Kathleen DeLaney, Dr. Caitlin Bernard’s attorney, said Attorney General Todd Rokita’s investigation relies on consumer reports from people who have never received Bernard’s care or even come into contact with him. doctor.
“None of the complaints were from a ‘consumer’ who purchased goods or services from Dr. Bernard or even from anyone who had direct communication with Dr. Bernard,” DeLaney said in a statement shared Thursday with HuffPost. “The complaints are riddled with inaccuracies and not based on any first-hand knowledge.”
The 10-year-old girl traveled from Ohio to Indiana to undergo the medical procedure after her state banned abortions, including in cases of incest and rape, following the court ruling supreme quashing Roe v. Wade.
A complaint cited by the attorney general, DeLaney said, lists Bernard’s phone number as 555-555-5555. Another person listed as a complainant has a “significant criminal history”, she added.
“Unfortunately, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita continues to use his office to attempt to intimidate Dr. Caitlin Bernard,” the attorney continued. “We urge Mr. Rokita to stop wasting taxpayers’ money and our time on his senseless campaign against Dr. Bernard for doing his job as a doctor properly and according to the law.”
The attorney general’s office would not comment on DeLaney’s allegations.
“We do not discuss the details of the investigations,” Kelly Stevenson, Rokita’s secretary, told HuffPost in a statement.
Rokita announced Bernard’s investigation during a July 13 appearance on Fox News, calling Bernard an “abortion activist acting as a doctor with a history of non-reporting.”
“We are gathering the evidence as we speak, and we will fight to the end, including reviewing his license,” Rokita told the conservative outlet. “If she failed to report it in Indiana, it’s a felony for — not to report it, intentionally not to report it.”
Bernard, however, said she performed the medical procedure within two days, well within the three-day limit mandated by Indiana law for patients under 16. This was confirmed by The Indianapolis Star, which received a copy of the state health department’s pregnancy termination report.
Bernard filed a Notice of Claim last week informing Rokita that she intends to file a defamation suit for the misrepresentation that she failed to report the abortion to state authorities.
“Mr. Rokita’s false and misleading statements regarding Dr. Bernard’s alleged misconduct in his profession constitute libel in and of themselves,” his attorney wrote in the filing. “The statements have been and continue to be published by or at name of Mr. Rokita and the Attorney General’s office.”
The doctor also spoke out in the wake of the controversy, telling ‘CBS Evening News’ that she hopes the case will help people ‘realize the impact of these anti-abortion laws’.
“And now, when it’s finally become impossible for some people, I think people realize that’s actually not what they wanted,” Bernard said. “It’s not what they want for the children, for women to be put in these life-threatening traumatic pregnancies.”
The Indiana State Senate on Thursday rejected a proposal to further restrict abortion by banning rape and incest exceptions, according to the Associated Press.
The Huffington Gt