Ulrich Klopfer who faces charges that he delayed reporting an abortion on a 13-year-old girl in South Bend, Indiana, may be able to avoid jail time if he does this one little thing.
Indiana law requires reports on abortions done on unborn babies of girls younger than 14 to be submitted within three days. Further endangering a teen who had already been victimized by statutory rape, Klopfer submitted the report six months after the abortion, according to state records. Klopfer potentially faces a fine of $1,000 and 180 days in jail if convicted of the Class B misdemeanor.
But the Indiana abortionist may be able to avoid all that. The misdemeanor charge could be dismissed in a year if he follows terms of a pre-trial diversion program.
The South Bend Tribune reports the agreement filed Monday requires Klopfer to pay $330 in fees and court costs, not commit any criminal offense during the year-long agreement, perform 24 hours of community service, report to the prosecutor’s office when requested and notify the prosecutor if he moves.
So while a young girl’s life has been ruined in part because of his actions, the abortionist essentially receives a slap on the wrist. Klopfer called the failures an “honest mistake.”
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St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Jessica McBrier said the pre-trial diversion program is for individuals who don’t have a criminal background and are charged with certain misdemeanors. According to the prosecutor’s website, diversion is offered on a case-by-case basis and is up to the discretion of the deputy prosecutor handling the case.
Klopfer is also charged with the same misdemeanor in Lake County. The next time he will appear in court for that charge is set for Jan. 26, 2015, at a pre-trial conference hearing, according to Lake County’s online records.
Klopfer’s license will also be reviewed by the Indiana Medical Licensing Board in January, though a firm date hasn’t been set yet.
Klopfer stopped doing abortions while the investigation continues.
Meanwhile, Klopfer is the subject of thousands of consumer complaints filed in late 2013 with the Indiana Attorney General’s Consumer Complaint Division over errors and omissions found on required Terminated Pregnancy Reports filed with the Indiana State Department of Health. In December, Klopfer ceased abortions at his Fort Wayne abortion clinic after a physician who had been providing local back-up as required in Allen County terminated that relationship.
The non-reporting of the young girl’s abortion was discovered by Lake County Right to Life after reviewing Terminated Pregnancy Reports obtained through an open records act request. Abortionists in Indiana are required the reports within 10 days of abortion procedures.
Women have now filed more than 1,200 complaints against him. The complaints are the result of 1,494 errors and omissions made by Klopfer between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2013 on terminated pregnancy reports that doctors are required by Indiana law to file for every abortion they perform. These complaints more than double the number of complaints currently pending against Klopfer.
