Indiana Launches Abortion-Sexual Abuse Investigation, Faces Roadblocks 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 14, 2005
Indianapolis, IN (LifeNews.com) — On the heels of a similar investigation in Kansas, Indiana officials have launched an investigation into whether young girls have been subject to statutory rape and had abortions without the rapes being reported to authorities.
Attorney General Steve Carter has asked the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to help his office track down medical records of 40 girls who obtained abortions at Planned Parenthood abortion businesses.
As in Kansas, abortion facilities are refusing to aid the investigation.
Planned Parenthood sued state officials on Monday to prevent it from having to release the medical records. The abortion business says releasing the information would violate the privacy of the patients and called the sexual abuse investigation a "fishing expedition."
The lawsuit, filed in Marion Superior Court in Indianapolis, seeks to prevent Carter or Indiana agencies from obtaining the records.
Though such an action might prevent more records from being gathered, the Medicaid agency has already obtain records of eight abortions at facilities across the state.
Indiana law stipulates that sexual relations with anyone under the age of 13 as child abuse, including cases where the partner is also a minor. State law requires anyone suspecting child abuse to report suspicions to authorities.
Betty Cockrum, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, told the Associated Press that her abortion businesses are trained to report such concerns.
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline is pursuing abortion records from two facilities in his state to prosecutor potential cases of statutory rape and illegal abortions. He is running into the same roadblocks from abortion advocates.
Kline told AP that the issues in Kansas and Indiana are similar.
"It is very common for prosecutors to seek medical records and to be concerned about predators preying on children," Kline said. "What is unusual is for doctors not to cooperate with child rape investigations."
