DEFAMATION: Indiana’s Republican AG probed for lies about women’s doctor
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is a Republican and a staunch opponent of a woman’s right to choose.
When a 10-year-old child’s victimization was worsened by abortion restrictions, he responded by attacking the doctor who came to her rescue.
Now, he’s under investigation for making defamatory statements about the professional.
Dr. Caitlin Bernard, according to testimony and documentation provided in a hearing before the medical licensing board, followed procedures by contacting authorities in both the child’s state (Ohio) and her own, making her initial report about the abuse even before she administered medication to induce an abortion.
That didn’t stop the Republican AG Rokita from suggesting otherwise on right-wing media and his own social media pages.
In a pair of news clips at the bottom of this page, you can watch Rokita complain that the child victim is being “politicized” — and then hypocritically use the child’s case to push conservative talking points on abortion and immigration.
You’ll also see a statement from him in which he claims the doctor violated the law and her Hippocratic oath, illegally disclosed private medical information, and by failing to report, exposed her patient to more abuse.
None of these claims appears to be true — Dr. Bernard did not identify the child and has shown evidence that she reported the abuse.
Now she’s being forced to fight to defend her medical license due to Rokita’s report, and he’s being investigated by his state Supreme Court’s disciplinary board for his actions.
“Rokita’s comments about Bernard, who had told a local newspaper about providing an abortion for the young girl, launched the Indiana doctor into the national spotlight…An Indiana judge overseeing Bernard’s lawsuit against Rokita over his subpoena of medical records found in December that Rokita violated state law and caused “irreparable harm” to Bernard’s reputation,” Law & Crime reported.
Investigations have found that Bernard was not in violation of any law, but, despite that, she’s still suffering the drawn-out process of defending herself.
In fact, her case was just continued, according to WYFI, moving a hearing that was scheduled later this month all the way out to May.
Indiana AG now says they are looking into the doctor pic.twitter.com/MMFsvBRRXs
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 13, 2022
Hopefully, Attorney General Rokita will be held accountable for his mistreatment and false statements about Doctor Bernard, but the question remains whether an Indiana judge will be willing to sanction the state’s sitting Republican attorney general who remains a powerful figure in the state’s legal establishment.
Steph Bazzle covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph.
