Ohio Decision Helping Planned Parenthood Hide Abortion-Rape Coverup Blasted
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 2, 2009
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) — Pro-life advocates are blasting an Ohio Supreme Court decision released Wednesday that they say helps Planned Parenthood coverup an abortion it did on a girl who was a victim of statutory rape. The state high court said a Cincinnati Planned Parenthood abortion business doesn’t have to give up records.
The records are part of a case involving accusations that it ignored suspected sexual abuse against a teenager who sought an abortion.
The case was brought by Cincinnati-area parents whose minor daughter had an abortion at a Planned Parenthood facility without their knowledge after being sexually abused by her adult coach.
The parents allege that Planned Parenthood failed to comply with the statute requiring reports of known or suspected child abuse as well as Ohio’s parental consent statute.
In a split decision, the Supreme Court said Planned Parenthood could not be forced to turn over the confidential medical records of other minor girls who had abortions even though any identifying information would be redacted.
Brian Hurley, the attorney for the girl and her parents, told LifeNews.com he disagrees with the court’s decision.
He said the decision "allows Planned Parenthood, under the pretext of protecting privacy rights, to prevent anyone from reviewing its redacted records to determine the truth of what many people believe is Planned Parenthood’s policy and practice of violating its duty to report suspected or known sexual abuse of minors."
"We believe that the protection Ohio provides to its sexually abused children has been significantly weakened and parents’ rights to protect their children from abuse have been undermined. We agree with Judge Donovan’s assessment that the decision is neither just nor reasonable," he continued.
Hurley told LifeNews.com, "It is important to point out that the Court clearly stated that our clients may pursue all of their claims against Planned Parenthood and that we may obtain from Planned Parenthood through other forms of discovery the statistical data about the number of abortions performed and number of reports of sexual abuse that is needed to help prove those claims."
"We intend to do so, and we intend to win at trial," he said.
Mike Gonidakis, the director of Ohio Right to Life, told LifeNews.com he is disappointed by the ruling.
"We regret that the parents in the Planned Parenthood case will not be able to recover for the failure to report the known or suspected child sexual abuse of their minor daughter," he said.
"Fortunately, because Ohio has recently changed the child abuse reporting law to specifically provide for recovery of damages, this fate won’t befall other parents in this awful situation in the future," Gonidakis added.
Related web sites:
Ohio Right to Life – https://www.ohiolife.org
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