Attorney General Says Virginia Abortion Clinics Don’t Have to Report Rapes of Teen Girls

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 1, 2014   |   1:37PM   |   Washington, DC

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has issued a shocking ruling saying that abortion clinics do not have to report rapes of teenage girls even though Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics have a long history of doing abortions on rape victims without reporting the rapes to authorities.

In an official opinion quietly issued two days before the last Board of Health meeting, the Attorney General determined that the Virginia Health Department, and abortion center staffs, can turn a blind eye to the rape of underage children.

The opinion was removed from the AG’s website yesterday, but reappeared last night, according to the pro-life group Family Foundation, which alerted LifeNews to the opinion.

teengirl2“How far will Attorney General Mark Herring go to protect the $1 billion abortion industry?” the Family Foundation asked.

“This surprising opinion absolves health care professionals at abortion centers or the health department of responsibility to report the suspected rape of a child to the Department of Social Services or law enforcement. In order to reach this conclusion and protect the abortion industry, the Attorney General had to overrule two opinions issued by prior Attorneys General. First was a 2003 opinion issued by then Attorney General Jerry Kilgore that required health care officials to report statutory rape when the victim reveals it during conversation,” the pro-life group said.

“More concerning, the second was a 2001 Opinion by then Attorney General and now respected Court of Appeals Judge Randolph Beales requiring teachers to report sexual acts against a child regardless whether the teacher suspected or believed the child’s parent or other responsible person committed the sex crime,” it added.

The pro-life group wants to know why the opinions were never questioned or challenged over the last fourteen years and pointed out that the state legislature has not passed legislation to overturn them.

Earlier this year, The Family Foundation sounded the alarm when we discovered from inspection reports that the Roanoke Medical Center for Women performed abortions on three minors without parental consent. At least one of the girls was only 14 years old, making it clear she was a victim of rape.

Virginia law is clear that “if any person carnally knows, without the use of force, a child thirteen years of age or older but under fifteen years of age, such person shall be guilty of a class 4 felony.” (Virginia Code §18.2-63)

The pro-life group said: “What cannot be ignored in this situation is the fact that the Roanoke facility sits along the I-81 corridor, a zone known for sex trafficking. But that doesn’t apparently concern the Attorney General, even though he has vowed that “…combating human trafficking will be a priority in my office and I will work…to eradicate it in Virginia.”

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According to Virginia law, health care professionals, including the State Health Commissioner, are required to report suspected cases of child abuse or neglect to the Department of Social Services to be investigated. (Virginia Code §63.2-1509). The group says an “abused or neglected child” is defined in Virginia Code §63.2-100 to be “any child less than 18 years of age…whose parents or other person responsible for his care commits or allows to be committed any act of sexual exploitation or any sexual act upon a child in violation of the law….”

Family Foundation concluded, saying: “In his shocking opinion, Attorney General concluded that unless the health care professional knows that the rape “was committed or allowed to be committed by the child’s parent or other person responsible for his care” it need not be reported.   (2014 Op. Va. Att’y Gen. 14-021 at 4) The problem is, the people trained to know, or investigate to find out, are law enforcement, not an untrained staffer at an abortion center.”

Planned Parenthood has been caught covering up countless rape incidents in the past. In 2010, Planned Parenthood covered up the rape of a 14-year girl who was brought to their Ohio facility by her 22-year old soccer coach.

In 2011, a Planned Parenthood facility in Arizona failed to properly report a case of statutory rape, which allowed the rapist to rape as many as 18 or more teenage girls. And the most recent case of the abortion giant’s misconduct involved a 13-year-old girl in Colorado who was being abused by her stepfather when she became pregnant. When the stepfather found out, he brought her to Planned Parenthood for a secret abortion. In June, the girl’s mother filed a lawsuit against the abortion business for failing to report suspected child abuse.

Additionally, Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action, has released numerous videos since 2007 proving that Planned Parenthood facilities across America cover up cases of statutory rape.

In a previous article published on LifeNews, Mark Crutcher, the head of the pro-life group Life Dynamics said, “The abortion lobby is engaged in a pedophile protection racket and protecting pedophiles who rape underage girls.” He continued: These abortion clinics receive money from the federal government. We are literally paying for the rape of our young daughters.”

ACTION: Contact the Virginia attorney general at https://ag.virginia.gov/ContactUsForm/ContactForm.aspx