Shortly after the activist radical Republican Supreme Court struck down a fundamental civil right – a woman’s right to control her own reproductive health – the first such regressive revocation of a fundamental civi right in U.S. history, the Indianapolis Star published this report, Patients head to Indiana for abortion services as other states restrict care (excerpt):
On Monday three days after the Supreme Court issued its groundbreaking decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, took a call from a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio.
Hours after the Supreme Court action, the Buckeye state had outlawed any abortion after six weeks. Now this doctor had a 10-year-old patient in the office who was six weeks and three days pregnant.
Could Bernard help?
Indiana lawmakers are poised to further restrict or ban abortion in mere weeks. The Indiana General Assembly will convene in a special session July 25 when it will discuss restrictions to abortion policy.
But for now, the procedure still is legal here. And so the girl soon was on her way to Indiana to Bernard’s care.
Since the report first appeared, the entire right-wing media ecosystem, in particular Rupert Murdoch’s fascist propaganda media empire (which includes Fox News and the Wall Street Journal) has been trying to discredit this reporting. “It is single-sourced to Dr. Caitlin Bernard,” “there is no criminal prosecution for the rape of a 10 year old girl” – essentially arguing that the 10 year old girl does not exist and that Dr. Bernard must be lying.
Which is really rich coming from a right-wing media ecosystem that is built upon lies and disinformation.
Even the mainstream media started echoing the right-wing media ecosystem, as they are wont to to do. The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker,” Glenn Kessler: A one-source story about a 10-year-old and an abortion goes viral.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes picked up this story at this point last night.
The Indianapolis Star followed up its reporting with, you know, actual reporting, not the incessant disinformation and propaganda from the right-wing media ecosystem. Ohio man charged in rape of 10-year-old that led to Indiana abortion:
A man has been charged with raping a 10-year-old Ohio girl, whose travel to Indiana to seek an abortion attracted international attention following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Gerson Fuentes, 27, whose last known address was an apartment in Columbus, Ohio, was arrested Tuesday after police say he admitted to raping the child on at least two occasions. He’s since been charged with rape and is being held on a $2 million bond.
Columbus police were made aware of the girl’s pregnancy through a referral by Franklin County Children Services that was made by her mother on June 22, Det. Jeffrey Huhn testified Wednesday morning at Fuentes’ arraignment.
June 22, which means that if anybody had done any actual reporting, like the IndyStar, that information was readily available to find. But the right-wing media ecosystem made no such effort. They do not exist to report factual information, but rather to spread disinformation and propaganda.
On June 30, the girl underwent a medical abortion in Indianapolis, Huhn said in court Wednesday, according to the Columbus Dispatch, a Gannett sister paper that has been working on the story with IndyStar.
The timeline given by police coincides with the account Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis physician who provides abortion services, shared with IndyStar for a story that published earlier this month.
Huhn testified that DNA from the clinic in Indianapolis is being tested against samples from Fuentes.
The 10-year-old told police Fuentes was responsible for her pregnancy, Huhn testified. Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Dan Meyer said the girl had recently turned 10, meaning she was likely impregnated at 9 years old.
Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Cynthia Ebner said the high bond in the case was necessary due to Fuentes being a possible flight risk and for the safety of the child involved.
During the hearing, Meyer requested Fuentes be held without bond. He said Fuentes is not believed to be in the country legally and there are questions about his identity.
There is the next right-wing media ecosystem story – they will not apologize for trying to erase this 10 year old rape victim and impugning Dr. Bernard as a liar, oh no, they will immediately shift to their anti-immigrant hysteria narrative and urban areas are a haven for violent crime narrative. It is always with the propaganda.
UPDATE: Confirmed. CNN reports Authorities confirm story about 10-year-old rape victim as abortion debate rages (excerpt):
Once the Columbus Dispatch reported on the suspect’s arrest, Fox came up with other reasons to blast the media, and Watters credited his show with putting on “the pressure” to find the suspect, adding, “we are glad that justice is being served.” He plastered Bernard’s photo on screen and accused her of participating in a coverup. Then his guest attacked the Indy Star and its “abortionist movement.” One hour later, Tucker Carlson strongly implied that the identity of the suspect was shrouded in secrecy because, in Carlson’s words, “apparently the rapist was an illegal alien.” The suspect’s immigration status is now the focus of right-wing media coverage.
Charges confirm story that has become abortion debate flash point
The criminal charges and testimony from the Columbus detective confirm the disturbing story that has become a key flash point in the national furor over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
IndyStar first reported earlier this month that a 10-year-old rape victim traveled from Ohio to Indiana for abortion services after most abortions became illegal in her home state.
The story quickly went viral, appearing in outlets across the globe, and became a top talking point for abortion rights supporters, including President Joe Biden.
“Imagine being that little girl,” Biden said Friday as he decried the high court’s decision. “I’m serious. Just imagine being that little girl.”
But in recent days, some abortion opponents and news outlets have criticized the story as unproven.
Story was questioned by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Fox News
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also questioned the validity of the account during an appearance on Fox News this week.
Yost, a Republican, told Fox News host Jesse Watters that his office had not heard “a whisper” of a report being filed for the 10-year-old victim.
“We have regular contact with prosecutors and local police and sheriffs — not a whisper anywhere,” Yost said on the show.
Yost doubled down on that in an interview with the USA TODAY Network Ohio bureau on Tuesday, saying that the more time passed before confirmation made it “more likely that this is a fabrication.”
“I know the cops and prosecutors in this state,” Yost said. “There’s not one of them that wouldn’t be turning over every rock, looking for this guy and they would have charged him. They wouldn’t leave him loose on the streets … I’m not saying it could not have happened. What I’m saying to you is there is not a damn scintilla of evidence.”
On Wednesday, once news of the arraignment came, Yost issued a single sentence statement:
“We rejoice anytime a child rapist is taken off the streets.”
No apology, not even a “My bad.”
"These Ohio Republicans behave on a base level so repugnant and removed from the general good-heartedness of most Ohioans it’s almost unfathomable.
"I honestly don’t know how they sleep at night, or look at themselves in the mirror in the morning."https://t.co/jHUJFxSHOZ
— David DeWitt (@DC_DeWitt) July 13, 2022
David DeWitt writes, Ohio Republicans’ attempted erasure of a 10-year-old rape victim is incredibly sick and disturbed:
The first and most important thing to recognize right now is that a heinous, violent crime was committed on a 10-year-old Ohio child, and thankfully justice has now found the alleged perpetrator.
A Columbus man was indicted Wednesday in a case that made national and international headlines about a 10-year-old girl who had to travel to Indiana for an abortion after Ohio’s abortion ban went into effect following the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
The story is horrifying and tragic. She has experienced enormous trauma. My heart breaks for her, and I’m very grateful to all the hard-working professionals out there providing her and her family assistance in what must be a truly awful time.
Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and his spokesman responded to the story by ignoring questions about whether children should be forced to have their rapists’ babies.Then DeWine allies contacted members of the press, asking how sure they were that the case of the pregnant 10-year-old even happened.
The Washington Post, the conservative Daily Caller and other media outlets published stories saying that the case was unverified. The Wall Street Journal Editorial page suggested the story was a “fanciful tale.” The National Review’s Michael Brendan Dougherty referred to the case as “a fictive abortion and a fictive rape.”
Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost went on Fox News Monday to raise further doubts. He said he works closely with law enforcement authorities and he’d gotten “not a whisper” about the case. “What I’m saying to you is there is not a damn scintilla of evidence,” he doubled-down to the Columbus Dispatch next on Tuesday.
Hamilton County Republican Party Chair Alex Triantafilou on Twitter called the case, “A garbage lie that a simple google search confirms is debunked.”
State Rep. Brian Stewart tweeted the Washington Post story saying he “wouldn’t trust an abortionist to tell me whether the sky is blue.”
Ohio U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan [Coup Plotter co-conspirator] tweeted, “Another lie. Anyone surprised?”
None of them had the patience to verify for themselves with certainty the truth of the matter before going public on a massive, self-serving scale. Jordan [has since] deleted his tweet.
The propaganda erasing this 10-year-old’s existence was so swift it spread out over right-wing social media like a blanket. Those advocating the truth of her story — privately already confirmed for some of us, and crushing to hear about — were subjected to wild-eyed mockery and ridicule.
It’s incredibly disturbing that the default position of so many sick and twisted people — including Ohio’s most prominent Republican elected officials — is to very vocally and very publicly question whether the rape and impregnation of a 10-year-old child ever happened.
This case was never implausible. In 2020, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 52 girls aged 14 and younger had abortions in Ohio, according to the state department of health. A review of just the city of Columbus’ police log since March 15 uncovered 59 reports of sexual assaults of girls 15 and younger that, based on the information available, could have resulted in pregnancy.
Nevertheless, the wheels and integrity of local journalism spun and uncovered the truth, with the Columbus Dispatch breaking the news of confirmation of the case.
But after the confirmation broke Wednesday, DeWine’s spokesman, Dan Tierney, again refused to comment on whether child rape victims should be forced to carry their pregnancies to term.
Ten-year-olds who become pregnant are by definition rape victims. But Ohio’s abortion law signed by DeWine doesn’t make exceptions for rape and incest.
Yost’s office didn’t respond Wednesday when asked whether he believes child rape victims should be forced to carry pregnancies, nor whether it was important to believe stories about sexual violence. Instead he put out a statement applauding the arrest.
Yost offered no correction, no apology, and showed no contrition for going on national television to try to erase the lived experience of a child rape victim.
Neither has any media outlet in the right-wing media ecosysyem or the mainstream media who parroted their propaganda. Lookin’ at you Glenn Kessler, Mr. “Fact Checker” for the Washington Post.
“Apologize for what? Questioning a newspaper story?” Ohio’s top law enforcement officer Dave Yost said about a case in his own county.
DeWine, Yost, and other Ohio Republicans hurt a traumatized child once by forcing her to flee the state in order to receive health care; then they hurt her again by peddling propaganda erasing her; now they’re hurting her a third time by refusing to acknowledge and apologize for their actions.
This is the key to this story: This 10 year old girl has been victimized three times, mostly by adult men.
These powerful Ohio Republican politicians have thoroughly and completely shed themselves of any sense of shame or conscience.
They’re disgusting and disgraceful; callous, careless and cruel.
This is a matter of basic human decency, good faith and sensitivity on the most fundamental level of society.
If they are willing to try to erase the traumatic story of a 10-year-old rape victim, whose pain and suffering will they not try to ignore and erase?
They behave on a base level so repugnant and removed from the general good-heartedness of most Ohioans it’s almost unfathomable.
I honestly don’t know how they sleep at night, or look at themselves in the mirror in the morning.
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UPDATE: The Washington Post reports, “Indiana AG’s comments endangered abortion provider, complaint says”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/complaint-rokita-indiana-abortion/
A misconduct complaint alleges Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita intended to “harass and intimidate” doctors who perform abortions when he publicly cast doubts about whether an Indianapolis OB/GYN complied with state law after helping a 10-year-old rape victim terminate a pregnancy.
The newly filed complaint against Indiana’s top prosecutor is expected to trigger a probe by the state’s Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission after Rokita, a Republican, claimed last week on Fox News that physician Caitlin Bernard had a “history of failing to report” abortions in child-abuse cases and rapidly launched an investigation into her licensure.
Kathleen DeLaney, an attorney for Bernard, told The Post on Monday that Rokita’s actions have “touched a nerve” in the legal community for what she called a blatant ethical violation.
“As the highest-ranking lawyer in Indiana, Todd Rokita should be held to a high standard of legal conduct and ethical behavior, and both his comments and the continued presence of his baseless claims on his state-run website suggest that a disciplinary investigation is warranted,” DeLaney said.
Lauren Robel, the former dean of Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, filed the complaint requesting an investigation into Rokita on Friday. It alleges that the attorney general made “inflammatory statements on national television, without due diligence concerning their truthfulness,” according to a letter obtained by The Post.
“The attorney general is tasked with protecting citizens, not going after them without evidence on television,” Robel told The Post. “I just fear that without those of us in the bar calling [out] that kind of behavior when we see it, we lower the standards” of ethics for all lawyers. (Although Robel said she does not personally know Bernard, both women are affiliated with Indiana University.)
[Robel said in her complaint that Rokita’s comments “placed [Bernard] in danger.” Bernard is already listed as a “local abortion threat” on a website for Right to Life Michiana, an antiabortion group based in South Bend, Ind. Two years ago, The Post reported, a kidnapping threat was made against her daughter — forcing Bernard to stop providing abortion services at a South Bend clinic.
In a state that’s slated to outlaw abortion in the coming week when its GOP-controlled legislature holds a special session, Rokita’s probe and statements feel like “an attempt to intimidate” Bernard and other abortion providers, Robel said.]
[T]he disciplinary commission is tasked with investigating and prosecuting any claims of Indiana lawyers violating the state’s rules of professional conduct. Once a complaint is filed, the agency reviews the information and decides whether to launch an investigation. If it finds there are grounds for an attorney to be disciplined, the case is sent to the state Supreme Court for formal charging. In the range of possible outcomes, disbarment is the most extreme.
Kathleen Clark, an ethics professor at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, said the best chance of spurring “overwhelmed bar prosecutors” into pursuing a case against an attorney general is an ethics complaint that makes clear arguments for how the rules of conduct were allegedly broken.
The strongest argument against Rokita is likely to be his alleged violation of rules on trial publicity, which generally dictate how lawyers involved in trials or investigations may publicly comment on a case. The guidelines seek to balance public interest and free speech while not “heightening public condemnation of the accused,” Clark said.
She said Rokita’s comments could affect the fairness of any investigation and could leave Bernard in “actual physical jeopardy.”
“No government lawyer is supposed to be a bully,” Clark said.
[S]hould the commission act on the complaint against Rokita, he would be the second successive Indiana attorney general to face a misconduct probe. The state Supreme Court suspended for 30 days the law license of Rokita’s predecessor, Republican Curtis Hill, after allegations that he groped four women. Hill lost his reelection bid to Rokita in 2020.
If the commission determines that Rokita’s comments were out of line, “then I would like him to retract that statement and apologize for it,” said Robel, who filed the complaint.
Indiana AG Todd Rokita has now been served a Notice of Claim that a tort claim will be filed against Rokita, marking the first step in a potential defamation suit against him. “Doctor who provided abortion services to 10-year-old rape victim files for damages against Indiana AG”, https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3566148-doctor-who-provided-abortion-services-to-10-year-old-rape-victim-files-for-damages-against-indiana-ag/
Bernard’s legal claim directly cited this Fox News interview as evidence of Rokita’s “false and misleading statements about alleged misconduct by Dr. Bernard in her profession” and argued that it amounted to defamation.
“Mr. Rokita’s false and misleading statements about alleged misconduct by Dr. Bernard in her profession constitute defamation per se,” Bernard’s claim stated. “To the extent that these statements exceed the general scope of Mr. Rokita’s authority as Indiana’s Attorney General, the statement forms the basis of an actionable defamation claim against Mr. Rokita individually.”
Fox is going full Tiller the Baby Killer again, publicizing the doctor, and this will end in a similar fashion.
Or it won’t end and will happen again and again, most likely.
10 year old’s should not have to go through any of this, but grown ups making things worse, regardless of the pain and confusion that child is feeling, all in the name of ratings and votes are just plain evil.
Pro life my white a$$.
The GQP’s go-to lawyer for GQP voter suppression laws for decades is now writing model legislation for a national abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest? Read this: this is your future, America, if you elect these radical Republican theocrats to office in November.
“National Right to Life official: 10-year-old should have had baby”, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/14/anti-abotion-10-year-old-ohio-00045843
The 10-year-old Ohio girl who crossed state lines to receive an abortion in Indiana should have carried her pregnancy to term and would be required to do so under a model law written for state legislatures considering more restrictive abortion measures, according to the general counsel for the National Right to Life.
Jim Bopp, an Indiana lawyer who authored the model legislation in advance of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, told POLITICO on Thursday that his law only provides exceptions when the pregnant person’s life is in danger.
Spoken like an old white guy who never had to face being pregnant at the age of 10: ““She would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child,” Bopp said in a phone interview on Thursday.
“Unless her life was at danger, there is no exception for rape,” Bopp said. “The bill does propose exceptions for rape and incest, in my model, because that is a pro-life position, but it’s not our ideal position. We don’t think, as heartwrenching as those circumstances are, we don’t think we should devalue the life of the baby because of the sins of the father.”
-This is religious zealotry by the evangelical Christian Nationalist right. Mainstream Christian faiths, and other non-Christian religious faiths, do NOT share this extremist view. The evangelical Christian Nationalist right does not get to establish its religious dogma as the law of the land, despite the six religioius zealots on the U.S. Supreme Court (allegedly Catholic, but of the Opus Dei secretive right-wing cult variety) attempts to write the establishment clause out of the First Amendment.
Rep. “Gym” Jordan, who failed to report sexual abuse of athletes at OSU when he was a coach there, and then tried to get the abused athletes to deny the abuse in the ensuing investigation, “Ex–Ohio State Wrestler Says Rep. Jim Jordan Asked Him to Deny Abuse Allegations”, https://www.si.com/more-sports/2020/02/12/jim-jordan-accused-cover-up-sexual-abuse-ohio-state
called a ten-year-old rape victim who had to go out of state for an abortion a liar, then deleted his tweet after her rapist was captured and confessed. “‘Despicable’: Jim Jordan Called Out Over Outrageous Take On Child Rape Case”, https://news.yahoo.com/despicable-jim-jordan-called-over-040613536.html
UPDATE: This story has taken a dark turn. Indiana’s GQP Attorney General wants to investigate the doctor, not the man who raped the 10 year old girl. “Indiana GQP Attorney General To Probe Doctor Who Provided Abortion To 10-Year-Old”, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/todd-rokita-investigate-doctor-10-year-old_n_62cfc023e4b0c0bdba666332
Indiana’s Republican attorney general said Wednesday his office would investigate a doctor who provided an abortion to a 10-year-old girl who was raped and became pregnant.
Attorney General Todd Rokita appeared on Fox News to address reports the girl was forced to cross state lines from Ohio — where abortion is now illegal after about after six weeks of pregnancy — to Indiana.
Bernard, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Indianapolis, told media outlets she provided care to the child after her family brought her to Indiana, where abortion is legal in the state until the 22nd week of pregnancy. Doctors there have reported an influx in patients from neighboring states after the Supreme Court’s decision striking down abortion rights.
Republicans, however, have seized on the child’s ordeal as evidence more restrictions are needed to rein in abortion access. Rokita said his office would be looking into Bernard’s conduct, and focused more on what he called an “abortion activist acting as a doctor” than on the accused child rapist.
“We’re gathering the evidence as we speak, and we’re going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure if she failed to report. And in Indiana it’s a crime … to intentionally not report,” Rokita told Fox News host Jesse Watters on Wednesday. “This is a child, and there’s a strong public interest in understanding if someone under the age of 16 or under the age of 18, or really any woman, is having abortion in our state.”
Rokita’s office did not reply to a request to clarify his comments or explain what laws he believes Bernard may have broken.
[Dr.] Bernard addressed the story of the girl in brief remarks on Twitter Wednesday evening, saying she was “so sad” the country was failing survivors of sexual assault.
“My heart breaks for all survivors of sexual assault and abuse,” Bernard said. “I am so sad that our country is failing them when they need us most. Doctors must be able to give people the medical care they need, when and where they need it.”
Abortion rights groups have warned in the weeks since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that Republicans would seek to penalize people who cross state lines to seek an abortion, or doctors who provide them care. President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week meant to safeguard Americans in both cases.
Indiana’s showboating theocratic AG can go fuck himself. The New York Times reports, “Doctor Informed State of 10-Year-Old Girl’s Abortion”, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/us/10-year-old-abortion-caitlin-bernard-indiana.html
A lawyer for the Indiana obstetrician who has drawn national attention for providing abortion care to a 10-year-old rape victim said on Thursday that the doctor had taken “every appropriate and proper action” in the case — including filing necessary forms to report the abortion with state authorities, contrary to the assertions of Indiana’s attorney general.
[A] document obtained by The New York Times appears to contradict AG Rokita’s assertion. The document, a “Terminated Pregnancy Report” filed with the Indiana Department of Health and the Department of Child Services, states that Dr. Bernard provided abortion medication — a two-pill combination that can be taken at home or in any location and is authorized for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy — to a 10-year-old patient on June 30. The report was dated July 2, which puts it within Indiana’s three-day reporting requirement.
Dr. Bernard’s lawyer, Kathleen DeLaney, said in the statement issued Thursday that she is “considering legal action against” AG. Rokita and others, adding that “the facts will all come out in due time.”
-This asshole is actually putting this doctor’s life in danger from anti-abortion domestic terrorist organizations, like Army of God. anti-abortion domestic terrorist groups murdered Dr. George Tiller, and “Over the last 20 years, anti-abortion terrorists have been responsible for six murders and 15 attempted murders, according to the National Abortion Federation. They have also been behind some 200 bombings and arsons, 72 attempted arsons, 750 death and bomb threats and hundreds of acts of vandalism, intimidation, stalking and burglary.” “ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT MARCHES ON AFTER TWO DECADES OF ARSON, BOMBS AND MURDER”, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/1998/anti-abortion-movement-marches-after-two-decades-arson-bombs-and-murder
Dr. Tracy Wilkinson writes, “Dr. Caitlin Bernard Was Meant to Write This With Me Before She Was Attacked for Doing Her Job”, https://dnyuz.com/2022/07/15/dr-caitlin-bernard-was-meant-to-write-this-with-me-before-she-was-attacked-for-doing-her-job/
Earlier this week I was preparing to write a guest essay with my colleague, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an ob-gyn here in Indiana. We wanted to write about the chilling effect that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has had on medicine in our state and around the country in just a few short weeks. But then Dr. Bernard became a target of a national smear campaign for speaking out about her 10-year-old patient, a rape victim from Ohio who needed an abortion and had to travel to Indiana to receive one, given the restrictions in her home state.
On Wednesday night, our state’s attorney general said his office would be investigating Dr. Bernard. So I’m writing this essay myself, not only to bring attention to the chilling effect on medicine we’re seeing at this moment — but also because I’m terrified that I or any one of our colleagues could soon face what Dr. Bernard is going through after delivering care to our patients.
When we talk about the importance of reproductive health care in the lives of our patients, we often weave in patient stories to humanize the often complex legal and medical concepts for the audience. Dr. Bernard told the story of her patient from Ohio as an example of how abortion bans can impact the most vulnerable.
The attacks on her were instantaneous and fierce. Multiple state attorneys general and high-profile conservatives suggested that Dr. Bernard was a liar. Pundits questioned her integrity, and articles in numerous news outlets cast doubt on the story, with The Wall Street Journal editorial board declaring it a “fanciful tale” that was “too good to confirm.”
On Wednesday, a suspect in the Ohio rape case was arraigned after reportedly confessing. But the attacks against Dr. Bernard have continued. Indiana’s attorney general said on Fox News on Wednesday evening that his office is investigating her, despite the fact that the abortion the 10-year-old patient received was legal in the state. The network showed her photo on the air. On Thursday, The Indianapolis Star reported that Dr. Bernard had filed the requisite paperwork associated with the procedure.
Political attacks on abortion providers are, of course, nothing new. And that’s not all that providers and their staff face: They have been targeted, harassed and in some cases even murdered for providing legal health care to their patients; some types of attacks against them recently have increased. This moment, post-Roe v. Wade, feels particularly frightening and is chilling to anyone who cares for patients, especially those providing reproductive health care.
This saga has had real-world repercussions for Dr. Bernard. The local police have been alerted to concerns for her physical safety.
My colleagues and I have watched all this in horror. We are worried that this could happen to us, too. A law that recently went into effect in Indiana mandates that doctors, hospitals and abortion clinics report to the state when a patient who has previously had an abortion presents any of dozens of physical or psychological conditions — including anxiety, depression, sleeping disorders and uterine perforation — because they could be complications of the previous abortion. Not doing so within 30 days can result in a misdemeanor for the physician who treated the patient, punishable with up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The law is written so broadly that a primary care provider who sees a patient with depression, an anesthesiologist whose patient has an allergic reaction to a medication or a radiologist who notes a patient has free fluid in the abdomen could be punished with a fine and jail time if they don’t report these things as possible complications of that person’s prior abortion. Any health care provider so charged could easily become a target of national attention, with attacks against them professionally and personally.
While clinicians are generally required to have malpractice insurance, such coverage does not typically cover expenses related to criminal charges. And while malpractice insurance often covers legal counsel during a malpractice claim, the same is not true for criminal charges. In addition to those tangible repercussions of such charges, physicians are at professional and financial risk that could end their careers and impact their families. Health care systems must not abandon their physicians when they are most at risk, in order to avoid bad press.
Laws like these are too often written by politicians without medical expertise, and too often use medically inaccurate definitions. Lawmakers can claim that the laws aren’t intended to hurt patients, but they instill fear in providers that will have implications for patients nonetheless.
It’s worth noting that all of this is happening in Indiana, which is currently more accepting of abortion and care for pregnant women than some of its neighboring states. It’s worse next door; for now Indiana is a haven for some patients in the region who need care. This is expected to change when lawmakers in our state begin a special session later this month and attempt to pass further abortion restrictions, possibly including a near total ban. It is unclear if that legislation will include exceptions for rape or incest.
Our medical and ethical responsibility as clinicians is grounded in delivering comprehensive, safe and evidence-based health care. If providing that care results in threats to professional and personal safety, patients will suffer. Doctors have sworn to do no harm. Clearly, many of those in [politicians] power have not.
Sarah Rumpf reports for Mediaite, “Fox News Host Called Story of 10-Year-Old Rape Victim Seeking Abortion ‘Fake’ — The Rapist Just Confessed”, https://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-host-called-story-of-10-year-old-rape-victim-seeking-abortion-fake-the-rapist-just-confessed/
Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal editorial page does the bare minimum. “Wall Street Journal Adds Editor’s Note Directly Refuting Paper’s Lead Editorial on Abortion Story”, https://www.mediaite.com/news/wall-street-journal-adds-editors-note-directly-refuting-papers-lead-editorial-on-child-abortion-news/
The Wall Street Journal added an editor’s note to the top of the paper’s lead editorial Wednesday refuting the premise of its own article, which was debunked by current events just hours after it was published.
Soon after the editorial was published, the story was confirmed as the arrest of the girl’s rapist and his confession was made public by local media. The Journal added the editor’s note, but did not retract the article which no longer had any basis in fact.
The editor’s note read:
The Columbus Dispatch reported Wednesday, a day after this editorial was published, that a Columbus, Ohio, man has been charged with the rape of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who traveled to Indiana for an abortion. The Dispatch reports that Columbus police were made aware of the pregnancy through a referral to local child services by the girl’s mother on June 22, though no public confirmation of the referral or arrest was reported until the Dispatch story on July 13.
New York Times’s Jane Coaston noted on Twitter that the note does not go far enough. Coaston commented, “If the lede of your op-ed is contradicted by the editors note to the op-ed than perhaps the problem is more pronounced.”
-The Washington Post’s media critic Erik Wemple also weighed in. Maybe he should start with his own paper’s reporting before casting stones at the Wall Street Journal.
On Wednesday, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson criticized President Joe Biden for relaying the true story about a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio even though Carlson himself had inaccurately proclaimed, “The story was not true.” “Tucker Carlson Doesn’t Issue Correction on Ohio Rape Victim Story He Called ‘Not True,’ Rips Biden for Telling It Instead”, https://www.mediaite.com/tv/tucker-carlson-doesnt-issue-correction-on-ohio-rape-victim-story-he-called-not-true-rips-biden-for-telling-it-instead/
Fuck Tucker Carlson.