Dr. Caitlin Bernard, Who Provided Abortion to Ohio 10-Year Old, Speaks Out and Pays a Price

Three weeks before the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade case, Indianapolis gynecologist Dr. Kaitlyn Bernard put his little daughter in a front-pack baby carrier in a white lab coat and went to the state. Joined several colleagues who marched. Parliament building wanting to deliver a letter to Governor Eric Holcomb.

A letter signed by hundreds of medical professionals called on Republican Holcomb not to convene a special legislative assembly to further limit abortion. It contained a pointed political message that “abortion bans are not popular in our state.”

Dr. Bernard, who gained national attention for providing abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim last month, gave birth to a baby and provided contraceptive care, papanico wax smear, and other routine obstetric and gynecological care. I have. She is also one of the few doctors in her state and has special training in complex assisted reproductive technology, including abortion.

However, some of her most dangerous work is done outside her hospital and publicly claims access to abortion.

Her candidness paid off. Dr. Bernard, 37, has been criticized and harassed throughout the right-wing media and is being investigated by the Indiana Attorney General. She landed at the center of the post-Roe clash that the medical community feared. In this clash, doctors themselves are the focus of political and legal attacks.

“The doctor who provided the abortion was harassed and killed,” Dr. Bernard said in an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday. “And for too long, I think they had to be silent to protect their families, and that gave rise to the idea that we were doing something wrong or illegal. And we are not. And I feel compelled to say that. “

The threat to abortion providers is nothing new. However, Roe’s overthrow created a new legal situation that was terrifying for doctors.

In Indiana, Attorney General Todd Rokita investigates whether Dr. Bernard, an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Indiana University School of Medicine, reported an Ohio girl’s abortion to Indiana authorities as needed. I am. Her records show what she did.

In a statement to the Times on Tuesday, the Justice Secretary said, “I see this duty to the end,” and Dr. Bernard used “the personal trauma of a 10-year-old rape victim” to “push her ideology up.” I accused him. stance. “

Meanwhile, Dr. Bernard says Rokita is another politician engaged in “threatening the nation for their political purposes.” She filed a tort allegation against him. This is the first step towards a potentially defamation proceeding.

Dr. Christine Really, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Wisconsin who coordinates the advocacy of assisted reproductive technology in the Upper Midwest of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said that medical professionals working in reproductive medicine carefully watch what happened in India. He said he was watching. She said she had offered an abortion at one of Wisconsin’s four clinics before Rho capsized. Abortion is currently prohibited under the law of 1849 and is a criminal offense.

“Our people who provide abortion care have been trying to do it carefully and carefully for years, knowing that this is the health care needed for our patients,” Dr. Lyerly said. rice field. “Now we walk the very fine lines of protecting patient privacy and really talk about what we see and experience and what patients are dealing with. I feel I need to speak up. “

Abortion is only one part of Dr. Bernard’s practice. She deals with a complex abortion case at a college medical center, where her mother’s life is at stake. She offers a few days a month, both surgery and medication, at her planned parent’s clinic in Indiana and Kentucky.

The work has long included a stressful element that goes far beyond providing sensitive medical care: In 2020, the FBI investigates the threat of abduction to her daughter in a planned filiation. I told you that I was doing it.

Her patient describes her as kind and compassionate. Rebecca Evans, a nursing midwife who sought care from Dr. Bernard after a miscarriage, called Dr. Bernard a “do all these things” and “full scope” clinician. She is passionate about everything.

Dr. Bernard’s advocacy drives her goal of providing patients with the best possible medical care, she says. By limiting her abortion options and requiring her to make certain statements, such as informing patients that the fetus feels pain during an abortion when the science on the subject is still unknown, the state she She says she is medically accurate, forcing her to practice medical care in an unsafe way.

She is a plaintiff Proceedings in 2019 Submitted by the American Civil Liberties Union We’re screwed To overturn Indiana’s ban on almost all abortions. She frequently testifies in the state legislature. After Roe capsized, she organized a protest. (She also has a tattoo on her left foot, showing a wire coat hanger (a symbol of dangerous domestic abortion before the procedure becomes legal) above the word “trust a woman”. .)

Indiana currently allows abortions for up to 22 weeks. Dr. Bernard wasn’t there this week as the Indiana legislature considered banning abortion almost entirely during the legislative session she fought.

She says the abortion opponent is leaving a nasty message on her cell phone. She continues to see the patient, but adopts her security details and her colleagues have launched a GoFundMe account to help increase her statutory bill. The emergence of face-to-face in a tense parliamentary environment can exacerbate the situation.

“The politicization of me and the work I do has certainly made it difficult for me to continue the defense I had in the past,” she admitted.

Shortly after Roe capsized Indianapolis star I learned about a 10-year-old patient who traveled from Ohio. In Ohio, abortion is banned after six weeks, even in the case of rape and incest. Dr. Bernard’s ally says it’s no coincidence that a 10-year-old child was introduced to her. They say that very few doctors can handle such sensitive cases.

Earlier this month, President Biden quoted the case when he signed an executive order designed to ensure access to abortion drugs. Suddenly, all eyes were on Dr. Bernard.

Dr. Bernard refused to discuss any aspect of the case on Tuesday because of the girl’s privacy. In addition to worrying about her prosecution, she may face consequences at her workplace. Until Tuesday, her employers, Indiana University School of Medicine (a state-funded institution) and Indiana University Health (a non-profit medical system), publicly talked about her, except that they did not violate patient privacy law. I was silent.

In a statement to the Times, Dr. Pamela Whitten, President of Indiana University, and Dr. Jay Hess, Dean of the School of Medicine, said Dr. Bernard would continue to be a “teacher in good condition.” IU Health calls her a “valued and respected doctor” and a “true defender of patient health and well-being.”

In a sense, Dr. Bernard’s life prepared her for this moment. She absorbed her activist muscles from her parents, who grew up in the socially liberal 1960s, and lived on a communal farm in northern New York when her child was small.

When she was five, she informed her family that she would be a doctor, her sister, Rebecca Johnson, said. When she was 15, she and her sister passed a group of protesters at a parent’s clinic planned for contraception. Later, when she and her father, a carpenter, went to Guatemala to help run a health clinic, she witnessed a complication that a woman could suffer from pregnancy.

Perhaps because of that, she said she was always attracted to obstetrics and gynecology.Early in her career, Dr. Bernard participated in a program called AMPATHLed by Indiana University, brings an American doctor to Kenya, where abortion is almost banned.

Almost one-third of the patients she saw suffered from complications from unsafe abortions. “We often see women who have been raped, assaulted and are now pregnant,” said her supervisor, Dr. Astrid Christophersen Deb.

After completing medical and internships at Upstate Community Hospital in Syracuse, New York, Dr. Bernard was trained at Washington University in St. Louis, where she was accredited for “complex family planning.” Her semester abortion.

“People in need of an abortion often face the worst possible situation. Pregnancy is highly desired and the baby cannot survive or leads an incredibly difficult life. “As a result,” she added, “politicians who are uncomfortable with abortion treatment have usually never been in such a situation.”

In 2017, Dr. Bernard left St. Louis for Indiana, where he became a “reliable” doctor claiming reproductive rights, said Dr. Tracy A. Wilkinson, a pediatrician with Dr. Bernard. I did. He is involved in the Indiana Reproductive Health Advocacy Project chapter. Dr. Wilkinson spent the whole day at the Indiana Capitol on Monday, saying he was keenly aware of Dr. Bernard’s absence.

“We don’t know we’re going to change the way we vote,” said Dr. Wilkinson. “I’m going to leave a record that someone got up and said this was wrong. We go to the patient to hear someone standing for them.”

On Tuesday, Indiana’s abortion ban came out of the Senate and gathered critics from the entire political spectrum. Advocates of abortion called the measure an attack on women, and some anti-abortion activists criticized the exceptions that allowed abortion in the case of rape and incest. One suggested that Dr. Bernard’s 10-year-old patient should have been required to give birth.

If the bill is passed, Dr. Bernard will find that he will introduce Indiana women to out-of-state abortion providers. She knows it may cause further problems for her, but she’s not going to be quiet.

“One of the most important things about the issue of abortion in the United States is that people don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “They are afraid of the stigma. Providers are afraid of the stigma of being harassed or targeted, so one of the most important things is to be honest about it.”

Mitch Smith Contributed to this story.