Wichita, KS — Below is a column that appeared in the Wichita Eagle concerning a horrific case of child sexual abuse on two sisters that resulted in four pregnancies over the course of many years, including one abortion and the birth of twins on one of the girl’s 12th birthday. The step father who abused the girls is set for bench trial later this month, and the mother who did nothing but look the other way is currently in jail.
Kansas abortionists and abortion supporters in the social services field recently sued and won a Federal Court case to exempt them from the Kansas law that mandates reporting of underage sexual activity. During the trial, which was reported on by Operation Rescue, the abortionists voiced concerns for the privacy of such girls and touted the “benefits” of underage sex. Judge J. Thomas Marten agreed reporting should be discretionary in consideration of the girls’ “privacy.” (Read about the trial.)
But in the case below, Marten’s exemption was not in place. The abortionist and doctors who administered prenatal care for the other three pregnancies did not report the incident of underage sexual abuse to the authorities in violation of the law, and thus allowed the abuse to continue — for years.
This begs the question: Why is the mom in jail and the abortionist and other physicians are not?
The abortionist is every bit as responsible for the abuse as the mother, as are the other mandatory reporters who failed to protect these girls.
And this is not an isolated case. Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline has indicated that although abortion clinics report having committed abortions on girls as young as 9, there has never been one incidence of underage child sex reported to his office by abortion clinics.
Columnist Mark McCormick asks the question, “How could this suffering get by us?” The answer is clear. Abortionists and their supporters in social services enjoy special privileges in our society and operate above the law. Judge Marten reinforced that arrogant behavior by creating an environment where abortion clinics and others can continue to protect and enable sexual predators without fear of prosecution.
Fortunately, Kline has appealed Judge Marten’s outrageous and dangerous ruling, and we pray for sanity to be restored by the Court of Appeals.
But until that time, we will surely see more cases like the tragedy below.
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How could suffering get by us?
By Mark McCormick
Wichita Eagle, July 7, 2006
Two little girls. Four pregnancies. One set of twins, born on their mother’s 12th birthday.
A stepfather facing a bench trial in Sedgwick County later this month for multiple attacks on both girls that prosecutors say resulted in the pregnancies.
A mother who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 months in prison — a departure from probation — because she knew about, yet did nothing to stop, the abuse.
“It’s a real tragedy,” said Attorney General Phill Kline of the case, “but this is what we see. This is the truth of the issue.”
Many of these cases escape our notice for far too long.
That these two little girls suffered through years of unspeakable abuse speaks to Kline’s repeated assertion that our current system of reporting pregnancies and abortions for girls under 15 is insufficient.
“Where there is force or a deviation in age, we’re going to prosecute it,” he said. “But we can never learn that unless someone reports it.”
We need more reporting and less reliance on the child victim’s common yet false claims that the person having sex with her is close to her age.
We’ve given rapists the magic words to avoid detection, Kline said, since prosecutors don’t pursue such “age-mate” cases.
Details about this case weren’t available, but there had to have been multiple opportunities for someone to intervene.
Someone at school who noticed the heartbreak on the girls’ faces, their frequent absences or their swollen stomachs. Someone administering the girls’ prenatal care. Someone present for the delivery of the twins or for the abortion of the other girl’s first child.
But because no one said anything or because no one listened — take your pick — these two little girls suffered.
For years.
By now, law officials said, the girls have delivered the babies from their second pregnancies.
Mike Deines, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services in Topeka, said agency social workers field phoned-in reports and then try to determine whether a report warrants further investigation.
“Our mission is to protect children,” Deines said Thursday. “That is our number-one mission. We do everything we humanly can to make sure children are safe and that we’re asking the tough questions.”
I believe him. I’d find it difficult to believe that anyone wouldn’t do all that they could to protect girls from these horrible attacks.
But I also believe that these cases get by us, that we could do more, and that there’s a little girl, somewhere, suffering right now.
Consider that before two men found pregnant, 14-year-old Chelsea Brooks in a shallow Butler County grave last month, Wichita police were investigating allegations that she was a victim of a sexual predator. Officials were waiting for the birth of her child so they could conduct a paternity test, District Attorney Nola Foulston said.
But someone strangled Chelsea before then.
And then there’s the case Kline referenced:
Two little girls.
Four pregnancies.
One set of twins, born on their mother’s 12th birthday.
A stepfather accused.
A mother who looked the other way.
How could we not be doing all that we could to make sure this never happens again? How could something so horrible get by us? How could we not see a hole in the system so large that all of these innocent little lives could slip through it?
