‘MISCONDUCT’

Indiana Court Reprimands Attorney General Over Fox News Abortion Remarks

Todd Rokita accused a doctor of being an “abortion activist” after she helped a 10-year-old rape victim.

Indiana’s Supreme Court on Thursday issued a public reprimand to the state’s Republican attorney general over comments he made during a Fox News appearance. After Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, Indiana OB/GYN Dr. Caitlin Bernard told the Indianapolis Star that she’d helped a 10-year-old girl from Ohio terminate her pregnancy (Ohio law at the time prohibited abortions after six weeks). In July, after the girl’s rapist was arrested, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita went on Fox News and accused Bernard of being an “abortion activist acting as a doctor with a history of failing to report.” The Indiana Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission found that Rokita “engaged in attorney misconduct” during the interview and said he violated professional conduct rules with his statements that materially prejudiced an adjudicative hearing and had no “substantial purpose other than to embarrass or burden the physician.” Rokita was additionally fined $250.