Local reporting brings light to a disputed abortion case
Controversy and doubt over a story of a young girl鈥檚 sexual assault shows how polarized conversations around abortion have become. It also highlights the challenging ethical role journalists play when covering national debates.
Controversy and doubt over a story of a young girl鈥檚 sexual assault shows how polarized conversations around abortion have become. It also highlights the challenging ethical role journalists play when covering national debates.
It took only four paragraphs in a regional newspaper to ignite a media conflagration over abortion that in two weeks engulfed President Joe Biden, the partisan press, and some of the country鈥檚 top news organizations.
In the center of it all: a 10-year-old sexual assault victim, identity unknown, suddenly thrown into a political fight on one of the country鈥檚 most contentious issues.
The case first came to light in a July 1 article in The Indianapolis Star about patients heading to Indiana for abortion services because of more restrictive laws in surrounding states, following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade. The piece began with an anecdote about an Indianapolis doctor asked by an Ohio colleague to help the girl, who was past the stage of pregnancy where she could get a legal abortion in Ohio.
The story was seized upon by Mr. Biden during a July 8 news conference to announce an executive order to try to protect access to abortion services.
By then, there were already questions raised about the Star鈥檚 story, notably in a series of tweets and a July 8 story in PJ Media by conservative columnist Megan Fox, under a headline saying that the story 鈥渄eserves a deeper look.鈥�
Ms. Fox wondered why the only apparent source for the story about the girl was the Indiana doctor, Caitlin Bernard, and whether she was credible given that she performs abortions and has protested restrictions placed on the service.
The Washington Post鈥檚 fact checker, Glenn Kessler, wrote last Saturday about those questions, noting that an abortion performed on a 10-year-old girl is rare.
鈥淭his is a very difficult story to check,鈥� Mr. Kessler wrote. 鈥淏ernard is on the record, but obtaining documents or other confirmation is all but impossible without details that would identify the locality where the rape occurred.鈥�
The Star鈥檚 story did not identify the Ohio doctor who had called Ms. Bernard. The newspaper鈥檚 executive editor, Bro Krift, has not discussed what steps the paper took to corroborate Ms. Bernard鈥檚 story, and declined comment to The Associated Press on Thursday.
A named source like Ms. Bernard is a good start, said Kathleen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin. If the Star had other sources, it may not have wanted to provide them at the risk of identifying the victim, she said.
Ms. Bernard reported a June 30 medication abortion for a 10-year-old patient to the state health department on July 2, within the three-day requirement set in state law for a girl younger than 16, according to the report obtained by The Indianapolis Star and WXIN-TV of Indianapolis.
In conservative media circles, questions raised about the sourcing quickly shifted to claims that the story was a lie.
The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial on Tuesday, called it 鈥渁n abortion story too good to confirm.鈥� The Journal wrote that 鈥渁ll kinds of fanciful tales travel far on social media these days, but you don鈥檛 expect them to get a hearing at the White House.鈥�
Abortion foes sought to raise doubts about the veracity of the Indianapolis Star story, until Wednesday, when a man appeared in court in Franklin County, Ohio, for an arraignment on charges that he sexually assaulted the girl. A police investigator testified at the hearing that the defendant who was arrested on Tuesday, had confessed to raping the girl, as reported by Reuters.
鈥楥orrecting the record鈥�
Under the headline 鈥淐orrecting the Record on a Rape Case鈥� Thursday, the Journal wrote that 鈥渋t appears President Biden was accurate.鈥�
鈥淭he country needs to find a rough consensus on abortion now that it has returned to the states and the political process,鈥� the Journal wrote. 鈥淥ne way to help is to make sure the stories about abortion, from either side of the debate, can be readily confirmed. Passions are already heated enough.鈥�
Mr. Kessler of the Post attached a note to his column updating it with the arrest, and said it was a test case on whether journalists should rely on one source for an impactful story.
He faced intense heat online, both because of his original story and his explanations. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted that 鈥渢his column is horrifying.鈥� Waiting for law enforcement confirmation is questionable when many women don鈥檛 report sexual assaults to authorities, she said.
Shani George, a Washington Post spokesperson, said, 鈥淭he intent of the piece was to spotlight the need for careful reporting in a time when information spreads rapidly.鈥�
The incident shows how political punditry often moves faster than journalism, and that journalists are caught responding to the punditry, said Wisconsin鈥檚 Ms. Culver.
鈥淭he most important issue here is it appears that a 10-year-old was sexually assaulted,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd that is a tragedy.鈥�
This story was reported by the Associated Press. Associated Press reporters Kantele Franko, Julie Carr Smyth and Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio; and Tom Davies in Indianapolis, Indiana, contributed to this report. Material from Reuters was included in this report.