The Indiana doctor who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old Ohio girl properly reported the procedure to authorities but listed the age of the father as 17 despite the man allegedly being 27, according to documents made public on July 14.
Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Indiana University, performed the abortion at the university’s hospital on June 30, according to the documents, which were obtained by The Epoch Times.
Bernard correctly listed the pregnant mother’s age as 10 but placed the father’s age as 17, the forms show.
The man arrested in Columbus for the rape of the girl is actually 27 and is in the country illegally, according to local and federal authorities.
Bernard’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. All contact information for Bernard has been removed from her university profile and the university has not responded to inquiries.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, had said this week that he was investigating whether Bernard complied with state law governing reporting by health care providers.
Any abortions performed on a girl younger than 16 in Indiana must be reported by the abortionist to the Indiana Department of Health and child services within three days of the abortion.
Bernard complied with the requirements, according to the documents. She filed the terminated pregnancy report on July 2.
It’s unclear whether Bernard reported the suspected abuse with the Indiana Department of Child Services. The agency declined to comment and has not filled a public records request.
“As we stated, we are gathering evidence from multiple sources and agencies related to these allegations. Our legal review of it remains open,” Rokita told The Epoch Times in an email.
‘Followed All Relevant Policies’
Kathleen DeLaney, a lawyer representing Bernard, told news outlets that the doctor “took every appropriate and proper action in accordance with the law and both her medical and ethical training as a physician.”
“She followed all relevant policies, procedures, and regulations in this case, just as she does every day to provide the best possible care for her patients,” Delaney said, adding that Bernard did not violate any laws and has not been disciplined by her employer.
Rokita had also said that Bernard has a history of failure to report. Indiana Right to Life, a pro-life group, in 2018 filed complaints against Bernard and other doctors who perform abortions for alleged failure to report. It’s unclear if any action was taken. The attorney general’s office declined to say whether it investigated the complaints.
Bernard first spoke about performing the abortion on the 10-year-old to the Indianapolis Star, which included it in a July 1 story about patients from other states needing to go to Indiana to get an abortion.
Ohio law prohibits abortions beyond six weeks of pregnancy but contains an exception for abortions “to prevent a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, has said the case would fit within the exception.
The girl’s mother reported the rape to child services in Franklin County, which alerted the Columbus Police Department, a police detective said during the arraignment for Gerson Fuentes, the man accused of raping the girl.
Fuentes is an illegal immigrant, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told The Epoch Times. He is reportedly from Guatemala.
There are questions about the man’s identity, the police detective said, with no indication Fuentes is in the country legally.
Police say the girl identified Fuentes as the man who impregnated her and that Fuentes confessed.
Fuentes faces life in prison if convicted.
A woman who described herself as the girl’s mother told Telemundo that the girl “is well” and “everything they are saying against [Fuentes] is a lie.”
From The Epoch Times
