CINCINNATI, OH – Planned Parenthood officials escaped prosecution in the recent case of a 14-year-old Cincinnati girl who asked for and received an abortion without any prior notification of her parents. The girl was brought to the Auburn Avenue facility by her adult boyfriend, who posed as her stepbrother and paid for the abortion with his credit card.

   The abortion took place on March 30, 2004. The father of the unborn child, John Haller, 21, of St. Bernard was indicted May 6, 2004 on seven counts of sexual battery and was found guilty on all counts. He has been designated as a sexually oriented offender and is currently serving a 3-year sentence at the Lucasville Correctional Facility.

   Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider. In explaining why his office did not pursue prosecution against the local Planned Parenthood affiliate, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said he would have liked nothing better, but that his prosecutorial powers in the matter were blocked by judicial fiat.

   “A Federal judge in 1998 staid that law, and that prevents enforcement of parental consent,” Deters lamented.

   In 1998 the Ohio legislature passed strict guidelines pertaining to the parental notification of minors. The Ohio House in HB 421 stipulated that not only were parents of minor children seeking an abortion to be notified, parental written consent was also required.

   However, prior to the law ever going into effect, Judge Sandra Beckwith of the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati issued a “temporary” injunction blocking the statute. Seven years later, that injunction is still in effect.

   “We went at this thing every different way,” said Deters. “Obviously we think this was a horrible thing to have happened to this family.”

   Deters told CCN-USA stricter interpretations of a parent’s right to know may be on the horizon. Deters expressed optimism that the newly configured Supreme Court will adopt a tougher stance toward such predatory cases when the Court reconvenes in October.

   “I wish we could have prosecuted, believe me,” Deters said. “Hopefully things will change in the Fall.”

   “If there’s any good news out of this case, all the parental notification laws have been taken in by the U.S. Supreme Court and hopefully this Fall we’ll have a ruling where they’re going to be holding these (laws) to be constitutional and we can enforce them. But as of right now the Ohio law (regarding prior parental notification) is in abeyance.”

   Deters maintained his office’s hands were tied by the federal court’s machinations. The Hamilton County prosecutor further stressed that he would have liked nothing better than to have gone after Planed Parenthood in the case. “If that law were in effect, we would have prosecuted, without question.”

   Deters explained that the actions of the federal judiciary had rendered all of Ohio’s previous legal statutes regarding parental notification meaningless.

   “So (the way the law stands now) a 13-year-old can walk into Planned Parenthood and say, ‘Here’s my mom’s phone number, and give them her girlfriend’s cell phone number,” Deters said.

   Tom Condit, attorney for the girl’s parents, said he disagreed vehemently with the Prosecutor’s decision not to pursue criminal charges against Planned Parenthood.

   Condit insisted the case did in fact meet all the necessary criteria for criminal prosecution.

   “The law doesn’t say attempt to give notification to the parents,” stressed Condit. “The law requires that they give actual notice to at least one parent. Planned Parenthood didn’t do that.”

   Condit said that the girl’s parents were extremely unhappy that Planned Parenthood escaped criminal prosecution in the matter and still grieve the loss of their grandchild.

   He stated that the decision not to prosecute would have no bearing on any pending civil actions the family might pursue against the abortion facility.

   Condit maintains Planned Parenthood shares nearly equal culpability with Haller in the sexual crime perpetrated on the 14-year-old. “They enable the rapist,” he said bluntly.