The prosecutor’s office of a Texas county bordering Mexico announced this Sunday that it decided to drop the charges against Lizelle Herrera, a Hispanic woman accused of murder for an alleged “self-induced” abortion.
In a statement, the district attorney who has jurisprudence over Starr County, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, said that this Monday he will present a motion that “will dismiss the accusation” against Herrera, whose case had shocked numerous organizations.
“After reviewing the applicable law in Texas, it is clear that Miss Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the accusation filed against her,” wrote the aforementioned prosecutor, Gocha Allen Ramírez.
Herrera, 26, was arrested last Thursday. This under a bail of half a million dollars. She was charged with “murder” for allegedly “causing the death of a person through self-induced abortion.” This was confirmed on Friday by the county sheriff’s office.
This Saturday, after strong pressure from groups that defend reproductive rights in the Rio Grande Valley, Herrera was released on bail. She got legal representation.
Her case caused alarm among activists who support legal access to abortion due to the seriousness of the charge filed against her and because it was not clear what law could justify such an accusation, even in a context as restrictive as the one in Texas.
In Texas, an almost total ban on abortion has been in force since September, which prohibits the practice as soon as fetal heart activity is detected, around six weeks of gestation, when many women do not yet know they are pregnant.
However, it is not the pregnant person who can be prosecuted under that law. But the doctors or other people who help her to abort – and never by criminal means, but by civil means -, so that legislation did not justify the accusation against Herrera.
Prosecutor Allen Ramírez stressed this Sunday that Herrera “did not commit a criminal act under the laws of the state of Texas.” This in an attempt to prevent his case from frightening other people who may go through similar circumstances.
According to the Frontera Fund, an organization that supports abortion access in the Rio Grande Valley, Herrera was placed under arrest after going to the hospital for a “miscarriage.” As well as giving “some information to the hospital staff, that she reported it to the Police”.
The prosecutor said the sheriff’s office did the right thing by “investigating” the case. But that at no time should he issue a criminal accusation. That what happened “has taken its toll” on Herrera and his family.
abortion medication
Abortion medication can cause symptoms similar to those of a miscarriage. Although according to official data the risk of complications is less than 1% of cases, it is advisable to consume it following the instructions of experts.
However, the ban in Texas has caused many women to seek medication to abort without medical help. Or, if they have the resources and papers to do so, they will go to great lengths to reach states where termination of pregnancy is legal.
In the coming months, the Supreme Court of the United States will decide on a case related to abortion and everything indicates that the conservative majority of the court will change its jurisprudence on the matter. Which currently guarantees the right to abortion until around 24 weeks of gestation.
If that happens, 26 conservative states are expected to ban or further restrict voluntary termination of pregnancy.
