The district attorney’s office in Starr County in southern Texas has dropped murder charges against Lizelle Herrera, who was arrested last week and charged after allegedly performing or otherwise being involved in a self-managed abortion—what Texas authorities maddeningly called “the death of an individual by self-induced abortion.”
These charges being dropped is undeniably good news but does not change the fact that Herrera’s arrest was a horrifying and blatantly illegal attack on her as a person, as well as on reproductive rights. Last year, Texas passed its draconian six-week abortion ban (S.B. 8) that deputized every hateful troll to be an abortion bounty hunter. But as awful and unconstitutional as that law is, its penalties are civil, not criminal.
Texas does have a criminal abortion ban on the books from before the days of Roe v. Wade, but under Roe, it’s unconstitutional and not in effect. There is also a new law, just passed last December, that makes it illegal to provide a pregnant person with abortion-inducing medications like Mifeprex or mifepristone after seven weeks of pregnancy, but that law specifically states that the person who takes the medication is not criminally liable. So, there doesn’t seem to be any grounds whatsoever for Herrera’s arrest, even under current laws that restrict reproductive rights.
After Texas passed its six-week abortion ban, there was a major uptick in people crossing state borders for an abortion, as well as in those ordering abortion pills by mail. Some states are trying to make it illegal to leave the state to get an abortion, so it’s no surprise, really, that some would be trying to prevent pregnant people from seeking the ability to perform self-managed medicated abortions at home.
Prosecutions for self-managed abortions are relatively rare, but they do happen, and disproportionately target women of color. Despite what Republicans and anti-abortion advocates in Texas and other states claim, medicated abortions are safe and effective, with risks and rates of complications equivalent to those performed in a clinical setting. However, the threat of prosecution, no matter how groundless, only serves to discourage people from seeking medical attention if complications do arise—especially because it sounds like it was the hospital that reported Herrera to law enforcement in the first place. People experiencing complications from self-managed abortions—as well as miscarriages, which can also open people up to investigation, scrutiny, and life-threatening restrictions—need to feel safe seeking medical treatment. Shame on any health provider who would violate that trust.
Advocates have compiled resources and great advice for protecting oneself against criminalization at every step of the self-managed abortion process.
Herrera’s definitely seems to be a case where people with anti-abortion views wanted to see how far they could push things past the line of legality, and it’s very scary that they managed to get as far as a grand jury indictment. Ultimately, the DA acknowledged that there was no legal basis for Herrera’s arrest and that this was “not a criminal matter.”
The Frontera Fund—an abortion access organization serving the Rio Grande Valley—has set up a legal defense and economic relief fund for Herrera, who was held in jail for two days, on a $500,000 bond.
(featured image: Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
