By Peter J. Smith
CINCINNATI, Ohio, August 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Cincinnati Planned Parenthood Clinic, charged with systematically covering up statutory rape, will not have to disclose the abortion records of other minors according to last Friday’s ruling by an Ohio state appeals court.
The three judges on the 1st District Court of Appeals ruled unanimously to overturn a Hamilton County Court judge’s decision to release the records to the lawyers for “John and June Roe”, who contend that their daughter “Jane Roe”, a victim of a child predator, became an additional victim to the unspoken policy of abortion providers to shield statutory rapists and violate the state’s parental consent laws.
According to the lawsuit, Jane Roe was 14 when her adult 21-year-old “boyfriend” compelled her to abort her baby at Planned Parenthood’s Auburn Avenue facility on March 30, 2004. The man paid for the abortion by credit card claiming he was Jane’s stepbrother, even as the distraught girl gave out the name and address of her father to clinic employees.
“The potential invasion of privacy rights trumps the probative value of the records to this case,” wrote Judge Mark P. Painter. He added that even if the patients’ names were redacted, “it is arguable that disclosure would result in a privacy invasion.”
Judges Penelope R. Cunningham and Lee H. Hildebrandt Jr. joined Painter in ruling: “The facts and evidence nowhere indicate that Planned Parenthood systematically and intentionally evaded its statutory duties.”
The ruling was greeted with enthusiasm by Becki Brenner, president of the Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, which faces another lawsuit from a teenager, Denise Fairbanks, who claims that clinic employees did nothing to report the years of rape she endured as a child from her father after she was brought in for an abortion, and so perpetuated her nightmarish sexual abuse for 18 more months. (https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07051605.html)
“Our clients have alleged that they were harmed because Planned Parenthood has a pattern and practice of violating its duties under Ohio law to report sexual abuse of minors and notify parents of minors of their daughters’ intent to have an abortion, not as a result of a single, isolated incident,” said Brian Hurley, an attorney for the family.
Hurley has vowed to appeal the ruling all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court. The family is seeking $25,000 for compensatory damages and $25,000 in punitive damages, plus attorney fees, costs, and any further relief that may be determined by the court.
The abortion industry’s hidden policy of covering up child predators activity is well documented. In 2002, the Texas-based pro-life group, Life Dynamics surveyed 800 abortion facilities and revealed that in 91% of cases, the facility staff agreed to conceal cases of statutory rape.
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Planned Parenthood Sued for Violating Abortion Parental Notification Laws
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05040504.html
Planned Parenthood Sued over Failure to Report Teen’s Incest Pregnancy
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07051605.html