A 26-year-old woman has been charged with murder in Texas after authorities say she caused “the death of a person by self-induced abortion” in a state that has the the most restrictive laws on abortion in the US
It is unclear whether Lizelle Herrera is accused of having an abortion or whether she helped someone else get an abortion.
Herrera was arrested Thursday and jailed on Saturday on $ 500,000 bail at Starr County Prison in Rio Grande City, on the U.S.-Mexico border, Sheriff Carlos Delgado’s eldest son said in a statement.
“Herrera was arrested and charged with murder after Herrera intentionally and knowingly caused the death of a person by self-induced abortion,” Delgado said.
Delgado did not say under what law Herrera has been charged. He said no other information will be released until at least Monday because the case is still under investigation.
Texas law exempts him from a homicide charge for aborting his own pregnancy, University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck told The Associated Press.
LM Otero / AP
“(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?” said Paltrow. “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, at least theoretically, of a 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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- Texas
- Abortion
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