A hearing on potential disciplinary action opened Thursday for an Indianapolis doctor who spoke publicly about giving an abortion to a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim.

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noting how the case became a political flashpoint in the national abortion debate.

Indiana’s Republican Attorney General Dr. Caitlin Bernard for violating state law by not reporting the girl’s child abuse to Indiana authorities. She is also accused of violating federal patient privacy laws by telling a journalist about the girl’s treatment.

Bernard and her lawyers allege that the doctor followed Indiana’s reporting requirements for reporting child abuse to hospital staff and that the girl’s rape was already under investigation by Ohio authorities. Bernard’s lawyers also say she has not released any identifying information about the girl that would violate privacy laws.

The Indianapolis Star cited the girls’ case in a July 1 article that sparked national political outcry in the weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Roe v.

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. Wade last June, who enacted a law in Ohio banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Some news outlets and Republican politicians falsely suggested that Bernard fabricated the story until a 27-year-old man was charged with the rape in Columbus, Ohio.

Bernard’s attorney Alice Morical told the state’s Medical Licensing Board

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On Thursday, the doctor reported child abuse of patients many times a year and that a hospital social worker had confirmed with Ohio Child Protective Services that it was safe for the girl to leave with her mother.

Dr Bernard could not have foreseen the atypical and intense attention this story received, Morical said. She hadn’t expected politicians to say she made up the story.

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Todd Rokita’s complaint asked the licensing authority to impose appropriate disciplinary action

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but does not specify any penalty requested.

Amidst the wave of attention for the girls’ case last summer, Rokita, who is outspokenly anti

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abortion, told Fox News he would investigate Bernard’s actions and called her an abortion activist acting as a doctor.

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Cory Voight argued Thursday that the board should address what he called a blatant violation of patient privacy and Bernard’s failure to notify the Department of Child Services and the Indiana Police Department of the rape.

There hasn’t been a case like this before the board of directors, Voight said. “No doctor has been so bold in pursuing his own agenda.

The board of Indiana, consisting of six physicians and an attorney, appointed or reappointed by the Republican government. Eric Holcomb could vote on Thursday whether to impose penalties after hearing what is expected to be several hours of testimony. State law gives the board wide leeway, allowing it to issue letters of reprimand or

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suspend, revoke or put on probation a doctor’s license.

The Ohio law that imposed a near-ban on abortion was in effect for about two months before being suspended because of a lawsuit filed against it. Indiana’s Republican-dominated legislature passed a statewide abortion ban weeks after the Ohio girl case drew attention, but abortions are still allowed in the state pending a decision from the Indiana Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the ban.

Bernard tried unsuccessfully last fall to block Rokita’s investigation, though an Indianapolis judge wrote that Rokita clearly unlawfully violated state secrecy laws with his public comments about investigating the doctor before filing the medical licensing suit against her.