Three weeks before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of abortion rights, an Indianapolis doctor dressed in a lab coat and put her baby in a baby carrier.
The letter was signed by hundreds of health professionals. The political message was that abortion ban are not popular in our state.
Dr. Bernard, who catapulted into the national spotlight for providing an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim, delivers babies and provides contraceptive care. She is one of a small number of doctors in her state who have specialized training in reproductive care.
Outside her hospital, she advocates for abortion access.
She has gotten a price from her outspokenness. Dr. Bernard is the subject of an investigation by the Indiana attorney general after he was criticized by right-wing media. The medical community has been anticipating a post-Roe clash in which doctors are the focus of political and legal attacks.
According to Dr. Bernard, physicians who provide abortion have been murdered. It has created an idea that we are doing something wrong or something illegal because they have had to be silent. We're not. I feel compelled to make that statement.
There have been threats against abortion providers for a long time. The legal landscape for doctors has changed as a result of the overturn of the abortion law.
In Indiana, the attorney general is looking into the case of the Ohio girl who had an abortion. She did, according to records.
The attorney general accused Dr. Bernard of using a 10-year-old rape victim's personal trauma to push her ideological stance.
Dr. Bernard says that Mr. Rokita is engaged in state intimidation for his own political ends. She filed a claim against him, the first step towards a lawsuit for defamation.
The events in Indiana are being watched by medical professionals who work in reproductive health. She said she provided abortions at one of the four clinics in Wisconsin before the decision was made to overturn the law. There is a 1849 law that makes abortion a crime.
For many years, those who provide abortion care have been trying to do it discreetly and carefully. We feel like we need to tell the story and be very open about what we see and experience in order to protect patient privacy.
There is more to Dr. Bernard's practice than abortion. She handles complex abortion cases where the life of the mother is at risk. In Indiana and Kentucky, she provides abortions several days a month.
She said that the F.B.I. was investigating a kidnapping threat against her daughter in 2020.
Rebecca Evans, a nurse midwife who sought care from Dr. Bernard, described her as kind and caring.
She says that her goal is to provide patients the best medical care possible. She says the state is forcing her to practice medicine in a way that is unsafe and not medically accurate by limiting abortion options and forcing her to make certain statements.
The American Civil Liberties Union tried to overturn Indiana's ban on nearly all second-trimester abortions, but failed. She gives testimony in the Legislature. She organized a protest after the case was decided. A wire coat hanger, a symbol of a dangerous at- home abortion before the procedure was legal, is tattooed on her left foot.
In Indiana, abortions are allowed up to 22 weeks. Dr. Bernard was not present when the Indiana legislature considered a near-total ban on abortion.
She says that abortion opponents have been on her phone. She continues to see patients, but has hired a security detail, and her colleagues have started a Go Fund Me account to help with her legal bills. An in-person appearance at the Legislature might make things worse.
She admitted that the work she does has made it difficult for her to continue to advocate.
Even in cases of rape or incest, abortion is not allowed in Ohio after six weeks. The 10-year-old child was referred to Dr. Bernard because there weren't many doctors who could handle it.
The case was cited by the President when he signed an executive order. All eyes were on Dr. Bernard suddenly.
Dr. Bernard refused to talk about the case because of the girl's privacy. She could face repercussions at work. Until Tuesday, her employer, Indiana University School of Medicine, a state funded institution, and Indiana University Health, a nonprofit health care system, had been publicly silent about her.
In a statement to The Times, Indiana University's president, Pam Whitten, and medical school dean said that Dr. Bernard is still a member of the faculty. I.U. Health said she was a "true advocate for the health and well-being of her patients."
Her life has prepared her for this moment. She grew up on a communal farm in upstate New York with her parents, who were socially liberal in the 1960s.
She told her family when she was five that she wanted to be a doctor. When she was a teenager, she and her sister walked past a group of protesters at a reproductive healthcare facility. When she and her father went to help run health clinics, she saw how pregnant women can suffer from the effects of birth defects.
She said that she was drawn to the field of gynecy. Early in her career, Dr. Bernard was part of a program that brought American doctors to Africa, where abortion is not allowed.
More than one third of the patients she saw were suffering from abortion related problems. Dr. Christoffersen-Deb said that they often saw women who had been raped.
After completing medical school and residency at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y., Dr. Bernard trained at Washington University in St. Louis, where she became accredited in "complex family planning."
She said that people who need abortions in the second trimester are often facing terrible situations, such as having a baby that is not going to survive or have a difficult life, and they are trying to spare it.
Dr. Bernard has become the go to doctor for reproductive rights in Indiana. Dr. Wilkinson was at the Indiana Capitol all day Monday.
We don't know how the votes are going to be changed. A person stood up and said that this was not right. Our patients hear someone stand up for them.
Critics from across the political spectrum were drawn to Indiana's abortion ban on Tuesday. Anti-abortion activists criticized exceptions that would allow for abortion in cases of rape and incest, while abortion rights advocates said the measure was an attack on women.
If the bill passes, Dr. Bernard will likely refer women to abortion providers in other states. She doesn't want to be quiet even though she knows it will cause more problems for her.
She said that people don't want to discuss the issue of abortion in the U.S. Providers are afraid of being harassed because they have been, and they fear the stigma that will come with it. Being honest about it is the most important thing.
This story was written byMitch Smith.
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