Texas woman accused of ‘self-induced abortion’ charged with murder
Lizelle Herrera was arrested under the new "Texas Heartbeat" abortion law that went into effect in September
A woman has been arrested by Texas police on a six-figure bond and charged with murder after she was accused of performing a “self-induced abortion,” according to reports.
Law enforcement in Starr County arrested Lizelle Herrera, 26, on Thursday on claims that she “intentionally and knowingly cause the death of an individual by self-induced abortion,” a sheriff’s spokesperson said, per Valley Central.
Herrera was still in custody on a $500,000 bond as of Friday night as an investigation played out, Texas Public Radio reported.
The Lone Star State has been a focal point of a national discourse about abortion after Senate Bill 8, one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country known as the “Texas Heartbeat Act,” went into effect in September.
The law bans residents from undergoing the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, a stage at which many women are unaware that they’ve conceived a child.
In Rio Grande Valley, located in Starr County near the U.S.-Mexico border, abortion assistance fund La Frontera Fund called for Hererra to be released, TPR reports.
“This arrest is inhumane. We are demanding the immediate release of Lizelle Herrera,” Rockie Gonzalez, La Frontera founder and board chair, told the outlet.
The group planned a protest for Saturday in front of the Starr County Jail, urging supporters to join them in demanding justice for the “unconstitutional” arrest.
“What is alleged is that she was in the hospital and had a miscarriage and divulged some information to hospital staff, who then reported her to the police,” Gonzalez claimed, later adding: “This is a developing story and we don’t yet know all the details surrounding this tragic event,” as reported by the radio outlet.
“What we do know is that criminalizing pregnant people’s choices or pregnancy outcomes, which the state of Texas has done, takes away people’s autonomy over their own bodies, and leaves them with no safe options when they choose not to become a parent,” Gonzalez continued.
According to HuffPost, in the time since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s abortion restrictions have taken effect, a similar bill was passed in Idaho, the first of a series of copycat bills other states have adopted and modeled after Texas’ rule.
Per the outlet, a University of Texas at Austin study published in March revealed that the stringent laws forced many Texas residents — almost 1,400 every month — to leave the state for an abortion from September to December 2021.
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