Topline
A prosecutor in South Texas said Sunday he will seek to dismiss a murder charge against Lizelle Herrera, a Texas woman who was arrested and jailed Thursday after authorities claimed she caused “the death of an individual” through a “self-induced abortion,” in an unusual case that brought renewed attention to Texas’ strict abortion laws.
Key Facts
District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez—the top prosecutor in Starr County, Texas—said Herrera “did not commit a criminal act” upon review of Texas law, and announced he will file a motion to dismiss her indictment on Monday, according to a statement released on the district attorney’s Facebook page Sunday.
Ramirez said officers at the Starr County Sheriff’s Department “did their duty” by investigating the abortion following a hospital’s report of the incident.
Herrera was first indicted on March 30 for “intentionally and knowingly” causing death by self-inducted abortion, and the sheriff’s department took her into custody Thursday on $500,000 bond, according to Texas Public Radio.
Herrera was released from jail Saturday night after an abortion rights advocacy group paid her bail.
What We Don’t Know
It remains uncertain whether Herrera herself had the abortion or helped someone else perform one.
Key Background
The indictment has drawn national attention and befuddled many observers, as it was unclear why Herrera was charged. Though a 2021 Texas law known as SB 8 bans virtually all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, it is enforced through civil suits from private citizens rather than criminal charges from prosecutors (a strategy Texas lawmakers are using to make it more difficult to strike the law down for skirting the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade standard). Women who receive abortions are also exempt from the new law, which makes anybody who “aids or abets” the procedure liable in civil court. In terms of a criminal charge of homicide, mothers who terminate their pregnancies are exempt under Texas law.
Crucial Quote
“There is no statute in Texas that, even on its face, authorizes the arrest of a woman for a self-managed abortion,” Lynn Paltrow, the executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, told the Associated Press.
What To Watch For
The incident once again draws attention to the possibility that the Supreme Court, currently consisting of six conservative-leaning justices to just three liberals, may soon overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established abortion as a constitutional right. Mississippi has asked the high court to reconsider the landmark ruling in an ongoing challenge to the state’s 15-week abortion ban, though it’s unclear how the justices will rule.
