RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas (Washington Insider Magazine) – In Texas, a 26-year-old woman was charged with murder after prosecutors said she caused “the death of an individual through self-induced abortion” in the state with the strictest abortion laws in the country.
It’s unclear if Lizelle Herrera is charged of getting an abortion or of assisting another woman in getting one.
Herrera was detained on Thursday and held in the Starr County prison in Rio Grande City, Texas, on a $500,000 bail on Saturday, according to sheriff’s Maj. Carlos Delgado.
Delgado did not specify the statute under which Herrera was prosecuted. Because the situation is still under investigation, he stated no further details would be revealed until at least Monday.
According to Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas law expert, she is not charged with criminal homicide since she aborted her own pregnancy.
The rate of abortions in Texas has been drastically reduced because to a state law passed in 2021 that prohibits abortions for women as early as 6 weeks pregnant. According to ABC NEWS, the law provides enforcement to ordinary citizens who can prosecute doctors or anybody who assists a woman in getting an abortion.
The woman who has the abortion is not subject to the law.
Self-induced abortions are still illegal in several jurisdictions, according to Vladeck, “and there have been a handful of prosecutions here and there throughout the years.”
Another Texas rule prevents clinics and doctors from administering abortion-inducing medicines beyond the 7th week of pregnancy, as well as allowing the pills to be sent by mail.
According to federal Food and Drug Administration standards, pharmaceutical abortions are not deemed self-induced.
The abortion advocacy group Frontera Fund appealed for Herrera’s release in Rio Grande City on Saturday.
The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice’s Texas State Director for Policy and Advocacy, Nancy Cárdenas Pea, believes that abortion should really be provided on the woman’s terms, where she feels most comfortable.
