An American doctor was fined for telling the press last year that she helped a 10-year-old girl terminate the pregnancy after the rape, as announced by the Indiana authorities.

The medical board of this northern US state ruled that Dr. Caitlin Bernard violated medical confidentiality by presenting the case of this child to the media without the consent of the girl or her guardians.

In the summer of 2022, Caitlin Bernard told the press that she adopted a baby girl in Indianapolis, Indiana, after speaking with a colleague from neighboring Ohio, which has a law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. automatically took effect. And this is after the abolition of the constitutional protection of the right to abortion by the US Supreme Court in June last year.

But the little girl who was raped in May exceeded that pregnancy. So she went to Indiana, where abortions were legal until the 21st week of pregnancy.

Officials in this Republican-majority state are hostile to abortion rights. A law that almost completely bans voluntary termination of pregnancy was passed last August, but has so far remained blocked in the courts.

“This case is about medical secrecy and the loss of trust between a doctor and his patient,” said Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, who launched an investigation into the doctor, accusing her of not reporting his case to the authorities, as required by law. . local child molestation law.

After more than ten hours of hearings, the Indiana Medical Board decided to fine Dr. Caitlin Bernard $3,000 but allowed her to continue to practice medicine after finding that the physician complied with legal procedures related to domestic abuse of minors.

“It is important that people know that patients will suffer because of the law that has come into force,” the doctor emphasized to her colleagues.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.