Two abortion providers in Indiana advocating against the release of individual terminated pregnancy reports have taken the matter to court, filing a lawsuit in Marion County to keep the records private.
Licensed OB-GYN physicians Caitlin Bernard and Caroline Rouse filed the suit to prevent the Indiana Department of Health from releasing documents relating to terminated pregnancies under Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act, stating that such records are exempt and do not have to be divulged, Inside Indiana Business reported.
If released, the reports would not reveal the names of the patients who terminated pregnancies, but would include other personal information such as age, race and county of residence. The reports would also list the name of the physician who performed the abortion.
“We are once again in court defending our patients and their right to privacy,” Bernard and Rouse said in a joint statement, as reported by The Hill.
“Everyone receiving medical care deserves to have their personal health decisions and pregnancy outcomes protected. There is no reason to release this sensitive information to the public. We will keep fighting to protect patients’ privacy and the trust between doctors and patients,” they continued.
Bernard gained national attention after speaking out about a patient who she had helped to receive an abortion in 2022: a 10-year-old girl from Ohio who had reportedly been sexually assaulted.
The Indiana Department of Health stopped releasing individual reports of terminated pregnancies following the state’s implementation of a near-total abortion ban, continuing only to release aggregate reports of terminated pregnancies within the state.
From July to September of 2023, the IDOH reported 764 abortions. Only 17 of these were performed after August when abortion bans took effect. The agency then addressed concerns that identifying reports could be “reverse-engineered” to identify patients who terminated pregnancies due to the small number of abortions being carried out within the state.
“Given that the report is populated with information that could be reverse engineered to identify patients — especially in smaller communities — (IDOH argues) that the required quarterly reports should suffice in terms of satisfying any disclosure and transparency considerations,” the December informal opinion from Public Access Counselor Luke Britt said.
Pro-life advocacy group Voices for Life continued to sue the state of Indiana, demanding the release of individual reports. Voices for Life further stated it would file an appeal after the case was dismissed by a Marion County judge in 2024. However, in January 2025, Indiana’s newly elected Republican Governor, Mike Braun, demanded that the reports be publicized through executive order.
IDOH, which settled and agreed to publicize the records, stated that they would make redactions to the reports that “adequately protect personal health identifiers and that do not inhibit examination of the terminated pregnancy reports to determine whether a physician performed an abortion in accordance with Indiana law,” per the Indiana Capitol Chronicle.
The court has yet to set a hearing for the suit brought forward by Bernard and Rouse.
Originally published by Latin Times.
