The Republican attorney general of Indiana announced Thursday that authorities in his state are looking into probable failure to disclose the practice and child abuse. A doctor who said she previously assisted a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio in obtaining an abortion in Indiana, even though the girl's mother had previously reported the incident and that Ohio police were looking into it.
According to Indiana Department of Health papers, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis-based Ob-Gyn, reported the abortion procedure on July 2, three days after it was conducted, as required by the agency.
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Bernard told CNN earlier this month that she assisted the girl after Ohio prohibited abortions as early as six weeks after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. According to police papers and court evidence, the young girl was raped in early May and Columbus police were first notified of her pregnancy on June 22. The girl had an abortion in Indiana a little more than a week later.
An abortion procedure done on a person under the age of 16 must be reported to the state's department of health as well as the department of child services within three days of the operation, according to Indiana law.
Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement Thursday that he is examining whether Bernard reported the abortion and abuse as required by Indiana law. Rokita made the statement for the first time on Wednesday. HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, establishes privacy guidelines for safeguarding individuals' confidential medical information, as per CNN.
The alleged rape made news earlier this month after Bernard told the Indy Star on July 1 that she had conducted an abortion for a teenage rape victim who had to travel state borders from Ohio to have the operation. Soon after the Supreme Court overturned the famous 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which guaranteed women the federal right to an abortion, Ohio enacted a six-week abortion restriction.
"It's difficult to fathom that in just a few short weeks, we won't be able to give that treatment," Bernard told the Indy Star at the time, referring to a similar abortion restriction that might take effect in Indiana as a result of the Supreme Court's decision.
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Following Bernard's remarks, President Joe Biden mentioned the event at a speech on July 11, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was questioned during a CNN interview on July 3 if she would compel teenage rape victims to deliver a baby.
Attorney General Todd Rokita announced that he would investigate Bernard for failing to report the abortion, claiming that failure to do so constitutes a crime in Indiana. However, documents obtained by Fox News Digital on Thursday show that Bernard successfully filed the required report with the state on July 2. According to the records, Bernard conducted a non-surgical abortion on June 30 on a 10-year-old Mexican girl who was six weeks pregnant, Fox News reported.
The Indianapolis Star reported earlier this month that the girl had to go to Indiana to seek an abortion because she was three days over Ohio's six-week restriction on the operation.
Ohio enacted a statewide ban on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest, mere hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24. Abortions beyond six weeks are still lawful in Indiana, though the state legislature's Republican majority is expected to adopt further limits soon.
President Joe Biden brought up the issue when condemning the Supreme Court's verdict at the signing of an executive order on abortion access on July 8. Some conservatives, including Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, questioned the Indianapolis Star story's authenticity.
Yost stated that his office had not received even a hint of a complaint for the victim. Huhn, however, stated that Columbus police learned of the girl's pregnancy through a referral made by her mother to Franklin County Children Services on June 22. Fuentes' preliminary hearing is set on July 22, according to Newsweek via MSN.
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