A Texas district attorney said Sunday that a woman who was arrested on a charge of murder related to a self-induced abortion will not be prosecuted.
Lizelle Herrera, 26, was arrested last week and remanded in custody on Saturday on $ 500,000 bail at Starr County Jail in Rio Grande City for allegedly causing “the death of a person for self-induced abortion, “said Sheriff Carlos Delgado’s eldest son. a previous statement.
But Starr County District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez said Sunday in a statement that “it is clear that Ms. Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted on charges against her” under Texas law.
“Although with this dismissal Ms. Herrera will not be prosecuted for this fact, I am clear that the facts that led to this accusation have passed bill to Ms. Herrera and her family,” Ramirez continues. “Ignoring this fact would be short-sighted. The issues surrounding this matter are clearly controversial, but according to Texas law and the facts presented, it is not a criminal matter.”
It was unclear on Sunday whether Herrera was charged with abortion or whether she helped another person get an abortion. Texas has one of the most restrictive abortions laws of the country.
“Herrera was arrested and charged with homicide after Herrera caused the death of a person by self-induced abortion,” Delgado said before the district attorney’s decision. Delgado did not say under what law Herrera had been charged.
Texas law exempted her from a felony homicide charge for aborting her own pregnancy, University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck told The Associated Press.
“(Homicide) does not apply to the murder of a child to be born if the alleged conduct is ‘conduct committed by the mother of the child to be born,'” Vladeck said.
A 2021 state law banning abortion in Texas for women who are six weeks pregnant has drastically reduced the number of abortions in the state. The law leaves the application to private citizens who can sue doctors or anyone who helps a woman to have an abortion.
The woman who receives the abortion is exempt from the law.
However, some states still have laws criminalizing self-induced abortions, “and there have been a handful of prosecutions here and there over the years,” Vladeck said.
“It’s a murder in Texas to take action that kills a fetus, but when a doctor does, it can’t be prosecuted” because of U.S. Supreme Court rulings that uphold the constitutionality of abortion, Vladeck said. .
Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, also noted the exemption from state law.
“What’s a little mysterious in this case is, what crime has this woman been charged with?” Paltrow said earlier that the prosecutor refused to file charges. “There is no statute in Texas that, even at first glance, authorizes the arrest of a woman for a self-managed abortion.”
Another Texas law prohibits doctors and clinics from prescribing drugs that induce abortion after the seventh week of pregnancy and prohibits the delivery of pills by mail.
Medication abortions are not considered self-induced under federal Food and Drug Administration regulations, Vladeck said.
“You can only receive the medication under medical supervision,” according to Vladeck. “I realize this sounds weird because you’re taking the pill yourself, but it’s under the attention of at least one theoretical provider.”
On Saturday in the city of Rio Grande, the abortion rights group Frontera Fund called for Herrera’s release.
“We still don’t know all the details surrounding this tragic event,” said Rockie Gonzales, founder and chairman of the organization’s board.
“What we do know is that criminalizing pregnant women’s choices or pregnancy outcomes, which has been done by the state of Texas, takes away people’s autonomy over their own bodies and leaves them with no safe options when they decide not to become parents, “Gonzalez said. dit.
Nancy Cárdenas Peña, Texas State Director for Policy and Advocacy at the Latin National Institute for Reproductive Justice, said in a statement that abortion should be available in a woman’s condition wherever she feels most comfortable.
“Allowing criminal law to be used against people who have ended their own pregnancies is not for a reasonable state purpose, but it can do great harm to young people, people on lower incomes and communities of color, which is more they are likely to be found or reported to the police, “Peña said.
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