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Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (left) presents Dr. Caitlin Bernard with the Our Choice Coalition’s Torchbearer Award Jan. 22 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. (Photo/Blossom Photography and Design)

By Marilyn Odendahl

The Indiana Citizen

January 23, 2024

Speaking to an overflow audience Monday evening, Caitlin Bernard, the Indianapolis OB/GYN who became the center of a national firestorm over abortion in the summer of 2022, was unbowed in her advocacy for reproductive rights and frank about how the country entered a post-Roe era.

“We let Roe v. Wade get overturned. That cannot be denied,” Bernard said, referring to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that recognized women have a right to an abortion. “And the reason for that was apathy and an idea that Roe was enough and it was never enough.”

Bernard gave her perspective during a celebration that recognized her work and staunch support of women’s health care and was highlighted by the presentation of the Torchbearer Award from the Our Choice Coalition. The event, held on Jan. 22, the 50^th anniversary of the Supreme Court issuing its landmark decision of Roe, took place at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in downtown Indianapolis before a large audience squeezed around tables and filling the three rows of chairs in the back of the ballroom.

Our Choice Coalition is a nonpartisan political action committee focused on electing candidates to state and local offices in Indiana who support access to reproductive health care, including abortion.

During the evening, Bernard was interviewed on stage by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Connie Schultz. She and Schultz talked about her advocacy for access to abortion and how she withstood the investigation and eventual challenge to her medical license by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita.

Bernard was at ease, thoughtfully answering Schultz’s questions and, at times, injecting some humor. She said being angry and feeling hopeless about the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the right to an abortion, would be ineffective in restoring reproductive rights. Also, she was clear about why Roe was never enough.

“I think we should have had a national right to abortion,” Bernard said, drawing applause. “Abortion is a human right and the idea that a political body, a legislative body, a court body can change that and can take away that right … is not enough. There’s nothing OK about that.”

Bernard was honored about six months after the state of Indiana blocked her nomination by the Indiana Commission for Women to receive its Torchbearer Award. The Indiana Civil Rights Commission told The Indianapolis Star that Bernard was rejected because of the reprimand she received from the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana in May of 2023.

The reprimand, accompanied by a $3,000 fine, was the outcome of a fight between Bernard and the attorney general. After the Dobbs decision was issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, Bernard confirmed to The Indianapolis Star that she had performed a medication abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio. The young girl could not receive care in her home state because of a trigger ban in Ohio that imposed severe restrictions on abortion at that time.

Rokita assailed Bernard on national television, most notably on Fox News in July 2022, accusing her of failing to comply with medical reporting laws. He then issued subpoenas for her patients’ medical records and publicly announced that his office was investigating Bernard’s actions. In late 2022, his office filed a complaint against her with the state’s medical licensing board.

The medical licensing board held a 15-hour hearing in May 2023 and concluded Bernard had violated patient privacy laws. However, she was allowed to keep her medical license.

Subsequently, Rokita was publicly reprimanded by the Indiana Supreme Court for violating two rules of professional conduct. He is currently under a second investigation for comments he made following the reprimand.

Bernard, recalling the hearing before the medial licensing board, credited her family and colleagues with helping her get through the ordeal. Also, she remained unwavering in her advocacy for abortion care.

“It’s about knowing that what we’re doing is right, that we are on the right side of history,” Bernard said, drawing more applause. “In opportunity comes responsibility, that we know that this is what we have to do and there’s not really another option. Physicians are trained to deal with tough decisions … that I felt was the right thing to do, so the decision was easy.”

The evening included a video message of congratulations from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and remarks by Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. During the showing of a mini-documentary about Bernard and her fight for her medical license, the audience booed when Rokita appeared on the screen.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton presented Bernard with Our Choice Coalition’s Torchbearer Award. She said Bernard did not set out to make history but simply went to work and upheld her oath to provide the best care to her patient.

“This torch was thrust upon Dr. Bernard,” Stratton said. “Dr. Bernard did not shy away from the heat or shield her eyes from the flame. She merely adjusted the weight of the torch and pressed on her journey, illuminating the path for more to follow. When her honor was smeared and her integrity questioned, she still protected that light.”

Bernard is continuing to practice in Indiana but said taking care of patients has become more difficult since Indiana enacted a near-total abortion ban. Also, she said she believes that support for abortion has gotten stronger as people have seen the consequences of Dobbs.

“Nobody wants an abortion ban in their state to affect their family,” Bernard said. “I think the stigma has been broken. We hear these stories every single day now in the news about people who need abortion care and not getting it, having to bring a lawsuit. This is something that we talk about so frequently and everybody can understand if they were in that position what they would need and want.

“And yet, our legislators are not representing us,” Bernard continued. “They’re not doing what they need to do to support us as their constituents. I think that is something that we need to continue to fight against.”

Dwight Adams, a freelance editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.