By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

The appalling charges being filed against Burrell E. Mohler Sr. and a growing circle of his relatives and acquaintances raise the question of whether child rape went unreported.

A key witness, who is now 26, has told police and prosecutors about sexual abuse she experienced until she had an abortion at age 11 1/2. At that point, she says, her memories of abuse ceased.

If she had an abortion at that age, it should have been reported to authorities and investigated. And, obviously, someone should have been arrested for child rape.

What happened? We don't know at this point. Phill Kline, of course, looked into cases such as these in Kansas, and alleged that child rape was going unreported. But those claims were never validated. In some of the instances he raised, it was proven that the abortion clinics had indeed reported the crimes to authorities.

There's a lot of questions with the Mohler case that need to be answered. The claim that an 11-year-old had an abortion is certainly one of them. But right now there's a real dearth of information.