A doctor who recently performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape survivor briefly considered giving up providing abortions after someone threatened to kidnap her daughter, the Indianapolis Star reported Sunday, in the latest development in a harrowing saga that has exposed the reality of abortion in a post-Roe v. Wade United States.
The 10-year-old traveled from Ohio to get an abortion from the Indiana doctor, Caitlin Bernard, because Ohio has now banned abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy, without exceptions for rape or incest. Conservatives and some news outlets initially doubted the story’s accuracy, until a man was arrested in the case and admitted to raping the girl at least twice.
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But Bernard, like many abortion providers, has long faced hostility and aggression for performing abortions. She learned of the threat to her daughter in 2020, according to the Indianapolis Star. For several months afterward, she stopped working at a South Bend abortion clinic.
“This is a known risk,” Bernard told the Indianapolis Star. “I knew this going into the job, I knew this going into a state like Indiana and I chose to do it anyways. So therefore when it happens I need to continue the mission I came here for.”
Bernard’s name has also been listed among a group of doctors labeled “Local Abortion Threat” on a website run by the anti-abortion group Right to Life Michiana, The Guardian reported. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who voted to overturn Roe, has previously been linked to Right to Life Michiana: In 2006, she signed onto an advertisement by a previous version of the group, which attested that those who signed the ad’s first page “oppose abortion on demand and defend the right to life from fertilization to natural death.” The second, unsigned page of the ad attacked Roe v. Wade as “barbaric.”
“Right to Life Michiana does not condone or encourage harm, threats or harassment towards anyone, including abortion doctors, abortion business employees and escorts,” Jackie Appleman, the executive director of Right to Life Michiana, previously told the Guardian. “We encourage pro-choice groups to also accept our nonviolent approach when it comes to the unborn.”
The website, she said, only included “publicly available information.”
Anti-abortion activists frequently post information about abortion providers online. Bernard’s work address, medical school, and associated records are all listed on at least one other anti-abortion database, VICE News found. (A disclaimer on that website also says that all of its posted information is publicly available, and denounces violence.)
On Friday, Bernard’s attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, accusing him of making “false and defamatory statements” about Bernard in a Fox News appearance last week. In that appearance, Rokita said that his office was investigating whether Bernard met reporting requirements about the 10-year-old’s abortion.
“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,” he told Fox host Jesse Watters.
Within days, records released by the Indiana Department of Health confirmed that Bernard had reported the 10-year-old’s abortion to the authorities.
Indiana University Health also released a statement affirming that Bernard had followed the relevant privacy laws.
“As part of IU Health’s commitment to patient privacy and compliance with privacy laws, IU Health routinely initiates reviews, including the matters in the news concerning Dr. Caitlin Bernard,” the statement said. “Pursuant to its policy, IU Health conducted an investigation with the full cooperation of Dr. Bernard and other IU Health team members. IU Health’s investigation found Dr. Bernard in compliance with privacy laws.”
Rokita’s office, meanwhile, told the Indianapolis Star that “no false or misleading statements have been made.”
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