April 13, 2011 // Local

Abortion reporting law, protecting minors from repeated sexual molestation, passes House

Brigid Curtis Ayer 

Indiana Catholic Conference

By Brigid Curtis Ayer

INDIANAPOLIS — A national sting operation aimed at exposing the truths behind the largest abortion provider in the country, Planned Parenthood, has once again prompted Indiana lawmakers to take action to protect young women from repeated sexual molestation. The Indiana Catholic Conference supports legislation to combat sexual abuse of children.

A youth led, pro-life video sting operation called Live Action, has released videos showing Planned Parenthood employees telling a male client, who posed as a pimp, how to cover-up the child abuse he had committed with young girls, and how they could assist him in continuing to conduct his sex trafficking business. These videos are posted online at www.liveaction.org.

Freshman lawmaker, Rep. Randy Frye, R-Greensburg, author of HB 1474, a bill to address the abuse, said, “I’m very pro-life. One of the biggest motivators for me to run for office was out of frustration on how the legislature was not handling pro-life issues. After I was elected, Indiana Right to Life came to me and asked if I’d be interested in carrying the bill. And of course I said yes.

“The bill really hit home for me,” said Frye. “I was a professional firefighter for 26 years; for 21 years in the city of Indianapolis. There were more than just a few times when we would go on a 911 run. We would find a very young mother in labor, and find out one way or another that the father was mom’s ex-boyfriend or someone much older.”

Frye said the legislation is a twofold bill. “Obviously it’s about abortion and the age of the father, but it also requires the aborting physician to notify the state within three days of the abortion if the woman is under age 14.”

Under current law they have six months to do so. “If you have a suspected child-abuse case and you wait six months, the perpetrator might be in another country,” said Frye. “While the bill is a pro-life bill, the child abuse aspect is even the bigger issue here.”

House Bill 1474, Terminated Pregnancy Form bill, would change two reporting requirements. It would require the age of the father; and require reporting to occur within three days of the abortion if the mother aborting was under 14 years old.

Dick Thompson, lobbyist for Indiana Right to Life, said, “The news media has reported all across the country cases where very young girls have been involved in a sting operation and child sexual abuse is not being reported to authorities. More than anything else, I am very familiar with the requirement in the pregnancy termination report, and that report leaves out the age of the father.

“Indiana law is very clear. If a lady under the age of 14 has an abortion, she has been sexually abused. If the age of the father is reported on the form, then it’s a red flag for the Indiana Department of Health,” said Thompson.

“If the abortion is obtained by a girl who is under 14 years of age, the abortion provider must notify within three days of the abortion, the Indiana Department of Health and the Indiana Department of Child Services,” he said. “If the age of the girl is under age 14 and the age of the father is 15, then they might not be as concerned, but if the age of the father is 27, the Department of Child Services is definitely going to want to look into it further.”

Thompson said, “The goal of the legislation is to prevent a young woman who has been sexually molested, and actually becomes pregnant, has an abortion, to have some follow-up on that. Otherwise, the molestation could continue, and she would have to have another abortion,” said Thompson.

Thompson said when he looked at the termination of pregnancy reports, it was a glaring error. “There was the name of the mother, the age of the mother and name of the father, but not the age of the father,” said Thompson.

The Life Action videos exposed a similar pattern in the states New York, New Jersey and Virginia showing Planned Parenthood employees aiding and abetting the sexual exploitation of minors and young girls. Last year, the group released similar videos from three Indiana abortion clinics.

House Bill 1474 passed the House March 30 by a vote of 83-11, and passed the Senate Health and Provider Services Committee, April 6, unanimously.

Frye said that there has been no opposition to the bill and he is very confident the bill will become law. If passed the bill goes into effect July 1 this year.

Marriage Amendment banning Same-Sex Marriage Passes Indiana General Assembly

The Marriage Amendment, House Joint Resolution 6 (HJR 6), has passed the Indiana General Assembly. The resolution adds language to Indiana’s Constitution, which would only allow couples consisting of one man and one woman to marry. While this language is currently a part of the Indiana Code, the author of the amendment Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, said the amendment is necessary to ensure the law is upheld.

The House approved the measure, 70-26, and the Senate passed the legislation, 40-10.

For the ban to become part of Indiana’s Constitution, the exact language of HJR 6 would have to be passed by a separately-elected, consecutive General Assembly. For example those elected in the 2012 election, would have to pass the same language in 2013. If passed in 2013, the language would be placed on a referendum vote for Hoosiers to approve before it could become part of the Indiana Constitution.
The Indiana Catholic Conference supports the Marriage Amendment.