US state of Indiana
Raped ten-year-olds: Authorities are investigating their abortion doctor
Abortion protest in Indianapolis, Indiana
© Aj Mast/AP/DPA
In the case of a ten-year-old rape victim, the investigators are now apparently targeting the abortion doctor. It is being investigated whether the doctor reported the abuse of the girl.
In the high-profile case of a ten-year-old rape victim in the United States who had to travel to another state for an abortion, authorities are now investigating the doctor who performed the abortion. Conservative Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said an investigation is being carried out into whether medical doctor Caitlin Bernard reported the girl’s abortion and previous “abuse”.
Will an abortion doctor lose her license?
“Failure to do so is a crime in Indiana, and your conduct could affect your license as well,” Rokita said. Earlier, the Attorney General told the conservative news channel Fox News that Bernard was an “abortion activist who acts like a doctor”. The doctor denied the accusation of breaching her duties through her lawyer.
“Investigations into a doctor who assisted a 10-year-old rape victim to have a legal abortion. This is extreme,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. This is the world that elected Republicans want.
The case of the ten-year-old rape victim caused outrage in the United States after the Supreme Court abolished the nationwide fundamental right to abortion. The girl had to travel from her home state of Ohio to the neighboring state of Indiana to have an abortion. Immediately after the US Supreme Court decision, Ohio banned abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy. With the girl, this period had expired.
The ten-year-old’s story had caused a stir in the United States and even prompted President Joe Biden to testify. “Ten years old – ten years old! – raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, had to travel to another state,” Biden lamented a week ago.
Right-wing media doubted the incident
Some media outlets and Republican politicians, however, had questioned the veracity of the story. On Tuesday, however, a 27-year-old Ohio suspect was arrested for raping the girl. The broadcaster CBS reported that the man confessed. Authorities confirmed in the indictment that the rape victim had traveled to Indiana to have an abortion. A number of details about the case are still unclear.
Because the Supreme Court ruled that there is no longer federal abortion law, states can now largely or completely ban abortion. Numerous conservative-governed states have already done so.