A pro-life advocacy group says a Planned Parenthood clinic counselor in Arizona failed to report a rape to police as required by law, allegedly allowing the suspect to assault more victims.
According to a formal complaint filed by Alliance Defending Freedom, a 14-year-old girl entered the clinic on New Year's Eve to get an abortion. The girl's mother told the counselor the baby's father was high school student Tyler Kost, who was 18, making him subject to a charge of statutory rape.
Arizona law requires clinics to report rapes to police, but according to a report filed by the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, "the counselor intentionally miscoded the assault as a consensual encounter . . . The counselor told them that they did not want the hassle of having to report the assault to law enforcement, as they were a mandatory reporter."
Between the time of the report and Kost's arrest in May, three more girls allegedly were raped and one was otherwise sexually assaulted.
Kristen Waggoner, vice president of legal services for the Alliance Defending Freedom, told Fox News Channel's
"The O'Reilly Factor" on Wednesday that Kost has been indicted on 27 counts of sexual assault. Some of the alleged victims, like the original one, were under 15 years old.
Many were his classmates at Poston Butte High School, reports
LifeNews.com.
Kost is being held without bond, and had a pre-trial hearing Wednesday.
There were a total of 13 victims, the
Arizona Republic reports.
Waggoner said her group wants to expose clinics violating Arizona's reporting laws, but also wants to see them shut down.
"This is not about a profit motive," she said. "It shouldn't be about putting a buck ahead of a young girl's health and safety."
Planned Parenthood Arizona and state officials say they were never informed of the sheriff's office report.
"We immediately contacted the Pinal County Sheriff's Office to get more information," a statement from Planned Parenthood read. "We have directed all of our health center managers and clinical supervisors to reiterate our strict policy for reporting any illegal activity. We have zero tolerance for staff failing to meet our standards and policies."
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