INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana choose on Friday rejected an try to dam the state’s Republican lawyer normal from persevering with his workplace’s investigation of an Indianapolis physician who has spoken publicly about offering an abortion to a 10-year-old rape sufferer who traveled from Ohio after its more-restrictive abortion legislation took impact.
The ruling comes two days after the lawyer normal’s workplace requested the state medical licensing board to self-discipline Dr. Caitlin Bernard, alleging she violated state legislation by not reporting the lady’s baby abuse to Indiana authorities and broke affected person privateness legal guidelines by telling a newspaper reporter concerning the lady’s remedy.
That account sparked a nationwide political uproar within the weeks after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade in June, with some information shops and Republican politicians suggesting Bernard fabricated the story and President Joe Biden almost shouting his outrage over the case throughout a White Home occasion.
Bernard filed a lawsuit towards state Legal professional Basic Todd Rokita final month, arguing his workplace was wrongly justifying the investigation with “frivolous” shopper complaints submitted by folks with no private data concerning the lady’s remedy. Bernard and her attorneys preserve the lady’s abuse had already been reported to Ohio police earlier than the physician ever noticed the kid.
Marion County Choose Heather Welch turned down Bernard’s request for an injunction blocking the investigation, saying the medical licensing board now had jurisdiction over the matter because the lawyer normal filed the grievance on Wednesday.
Welch, nonetheless, discovered that Rokita wrongly made public feedback about investigating Bernard earlier than the grievance was filed. Welch wrote that Rokita’s statements “are clearly illegal breaches of the licensing investigations statute’s requirement that workers of the Legal professional Basic’s Workplace preserve confidentiality over pending investigations till they’re so referred to prosecution.”
Bernard’s attorneys didn’t instantly touch upon Friday’s ruling.
