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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowI have known Todd Rokita for decades, and he has been known to ruffle some feathers, including mine. But public officials know that you only take flack when you are over the target, and Attorney General Todd Rokita’s courageous conservative stands have placed him over the target many times.
Most recently, controversy — and flack — has again come his way over his successful disciplinary complaint against Dr. Caitlin Bernard. After Dr. Bernard performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio in 2022, she attended a political rally where she spoke to an IndyStar reporter about the girl’s private medical information. This was all done in an attempt to promote her own abortion-rights political views. Shortly after, she went on MSNBC, where she gave private medical information that could expose the victim and her identity.
AG Rokita replied to the media frenzy created by Dr. Bernard by speaking to a reporter on Fox News, where he simply stated that the office was investigating this case on behalf of the little girl and her privacy rights. We know now that Rokita’s office was investigating several possible legal violations including HIPAA and other medical privacy laws, Indiana laws protecting patient confidentiality, and child abuse reporting requirements.
As a result of the attorney general’s investigation and subsequent complaint with the Indiana Medical Licensing Board, Dr. Bernard was found guilty on three counts of violating medical privacy laws, and the board imposed the maximum fine and issued a letter of reprimand. She was found to have violated both HIPAA and Indiana law when she publicly gave intimate medical details about her minor patient.
Somehow, however, the mainstream media has spun this to make the man — Todd Rokita, who was promising to fix the problem of a serious violation of the medical privacy of a 10-year-old child for political purposes — a villain. AG Rokita is not the villain here, but the one who would exploit a child’s private medical condition for political gain is.
And AG Rokita’s courageous conservative stance is also demonstrated in his recent lawsuit filed against Indiana University Health after they failed to protect the privacy of this 10-year-old child and enforce HIPAA and other Indiana laws. Instead of condemning Dr. Bernard, a staff member at IU Health, for her violation of her patient’s medical privacy, IU Health jumped to Dr. Bernard’s defense, even after her disciplinary conviction.
However, many employees at IU Health have been fired for actions that pale in comparison to those of Dr. Bernard. But the hospital decided to not only look the other way; they defended her clear violations of patient privacy and confidentiality in public statements to multiple media outlets. AG Rokita seeks to require IU Health to obey Indiana law and to protect patient privacy.
Finally, AG Rokita is also defending himself against several disciplinary charges filed with the Indiana Supreme Court over public statements he made about Dr. Bernard’s case — specifically that she is an “abortion activist acting as a doctor — with a history of failure to report,” and acknowledging that an AG investigation of her was ongoing.
Of course, Dr. Bernard had willingly and aggressively made a national spokesman of herself for the abortion-rights movement and was accused in 2018 of failing to report underaged abortions to the health department as required by Indiana law, so what AG Rokita said was factual. However, there are also legal and ethical restrictions on what lawyers may say publicly about the legal matter they are handling, which the Indiana Supreme Court will sort out here.
But in so doing, the court should ensure that any vague laws limiting speech, as the ones here do, do not violate the First Amendment and do not unnecessarily restrict a public official’s duty of transparency and full disclosure to the public. And here, there is no claim of any harm or prejudice to Dr. Bernard, as any harm to her flows from her own conduct and subsequent conviction.
I have practiced law in Indiana for 50 years with The Bopp Law Firm P.C. and have a record of successfully defending First Amendment rights, pro-life laws, religious freedom and other constitutional rights. And yes, I have worked for the AG’s office, beginning my career there as a full-time deputy attorney general for two years and now handling a few cases as outside counsel. I agreed to do so now after witnessing the fine record of AG Rokita. He is a man who sticks by his views, and that is an attribute I truly respect.
People across the state might not always agree with him, and some things he says may cut the wrong way, but when you look at the facts, he has made Indiana a better place to live by consistently and courageously defending Hoosier conservative values. That’s why I will continue to back him and will be supporting him for reelection in 2024.•
–James Bopp Jr.
The Bopp Law Firm P.C., Terre Haute, owner, sole proprietor
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