Indiana’s medical licensing board reprimanded and fined an Indianapolis doctor who publicly spoke about performing an abortion on a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim last year, CNN reported.
On Thursday, the board determined that Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who is an obstetrician-gynecologist, is liable on three counts of violating patient privacy laws, the report states. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita initially filed a complaint against Bernard in November.
The board will allow Bernard to continue to practice medicine but fined her $3,000 and issued her a letter of reprimand, according to the report.
“My reason to recommend a letter of reprimand would be that I don’t think she expected this to go viral,” the board’s president, Dr. John Strobel, said during deliberations. “I don’t think she expected this attention to be brought to this patient.”
“But I do think that we as physicians need to be more careful in this situation,” Strobel said. “I think she’s a good doctor. … I think she’s safe to go back to practice.”
The board did dismiss the allegation that Bernard did not follow the proper procedures for reporting child abuse to state authorities after the abortion was completed.
CNN noted the news of the Ohio girl’s abortion, just days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, “helped make Bernard part of a national debate over abortion rights in the country.”
The report states;
Bernard told CNN last year that she provided abortion services to the child in late June, and that the girl traveled to Indiana for the procedure because Ohio, after the Roe ruling, generally banned abortions after early cardiac activity is detected, which is around six weeks into a pregnancy. The girl was six weeks and three days into her pregnancy, Bernard said,” according to the report.
“The case quickly became a flashpoint in the post-Roe clash over abortion rights. Several GOP politicians and media outlets initially cast skepticism on Bernard’s claims until a man was charged with raping the child and an Ohio detective testified that the girl had undergone an abortion in Indianapolis,” according to the report.
The abortion was completed in Indiana while the state still allowed abortions up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Indiana legislators subsequently passed a law restricting abortions at all stages of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest, to save the woman’s life or prevent a serious health risk, and lethal fetal abnormalities.
The complaint allegedly focused on Bernard’s decision to speak to a reporter from the largest newspaper in Indiana about the abortion, co-director of the attorney general office’s complex litigation division Cory Voight said.
Voight said in his opening statement that her decision to speak to the newspaper resulted in the little girl’s story being spread across the country. The complaint broadly requested the licensing board take “appropriate disciplinary action,” according to the report.
Bernard’s attorney argued the complaint was a “last-ditch effort to intimidate” her and other abortionists. Bernard testified on Thursday that she “did not release any protected health information” and “complied with all patient confidentially and HIPAA laws” to the best of her knowledge.
“And, again, there was no information that I released that led to her being identified,” she said.
Indiana University Health, which employs Bernard, said in July that, upon reviewing her case, she was “in compliance with privacy laws,” according to the report.
Bernard also clarified that she immediately informed a hospital social worker about suspect abuse. That social worker testified that she subsequently informed Ohio officials, and that authorities in that state were already investigating the case.
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