The Indiana Supreme Court issued a “public reprimand” Thursday for Attorney General Todd Rokita for comments he made on Fox News about an Indianapolis abortion doctor.
In a 3-2 decision, the justices wrote that Rokita, who is originally from Munster, admitted to two professional conduct violations in a sworn affidavit, with a third dismissed.
Rokita is ordered to pay $250 in court costs. Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Christopher Goff dissented — arguing his penalty should be stiffer given his role.
In a lengthy statement, Rokita denied wrongdoing.
“First things first: I deny and was not found to have violated anyone’s confidentiality or any laws. I was not fined. And I will continue as Indiana’s duly-elected attorney general,” he wrote.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, IU Health obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Caitlin Bernard told an Indianapolis Star reporter in a July 1, 2022 article that she recently performed an abortion on a 10-year-old Ohio girl. The doctor filed state reports the next day.
Days later on July 13, 2022, Rokita appeared on Fox News calling Bernard an “abortion activist acting as a doctor — with a history of failing to report.”
“We’re gathering the evidence as we speak, and we’re going to fight this to the end, uh, including looking at her licensure if she failed to report,” he added.
His comments — which the justices called “attorney misconduct” — served “no substantial purpose” than to “embarrass” or “burden” Bernard, while possibly “prejudicing” a hearing against her, the justices wrote.
Rokita’s comments on national TV had a “far greater reach” than in another cited discipline case where a county prosecutor wove opinions into a press release on a high-profile murder case sent to a local newspaper.
Rokita filed a federal lawsuit against Indiana University Health in September claiming the state’s largest hospital system violated patient privacy laws when Bernard publicly shared the girl’s story. Rokita’s lawsuit also names IU Healthcare Associates.
Bernard was reprimanded by Indiana’s medical licensing board in May, saying she didn’t abide by privacy laws by speaking publicly about the girl’s treatment. Hospital system officials have argued against that assertion.
Gerson Fuentes, 28, who confessed to raping and impregnating the Ohio girl, was sentenced to life in prison in July.
The Associated Press contributed.
