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Supporters Protest Outside Starr County Jail: 'Abortion Is Health Care'
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JASON GARZA / REUTERS
A 26-year-old woman has been charged with murder in Rio Grande City, Texas after giving herself an abortion.
This is reported by the US media, citing the TV broadcaster KVEO and the AP news agency.
Accordingly, the authorities accuse the woman of causing "the death of a person by self-induced abortion" - in a state that has the most restrictive abortion laws in the United States.
It is reportedly unclear whether the defendant performed the abortion on herself or another woman.
She was arrested on Thursday and remained incarcerated on Saturday at the Starr County Jail in Rio Grande City on the US-Mexico border, which may also be due to the extraordinarily high bail of $500,000.
A spokesman for the Starr County Sheriff's Office did not say under what law the woman was detained.
No further information would be released until at least Monday as the case is still under investigation.
Not even an exception for rape
The strictest abortion law in the USA, the so-called "Heartbeat Bill", came into force on September 1, 2021 in conservative-governed Texas.
It bans abortions from the time when the heartbeat of the fetus can be detected, i.e. from about the sixth week of pregnancy.
Many women do not even know at this point that they are pregnant.
Even in the case of rape or incest, the law provides no exceptions.
Since then, private individuals have been able to sue anyone who helps a woman with an abortion.
The woman who receives the abortion cannot be sued under the law.
Another Texas law prohibits doctors and clinics from prescribing abortion-promoting drugs after the seventh week of pregnancy and prohibits delivery of the pills in the mail.
sol/AP