Do not give up your body or your choices. Lizelle Herrera Gonzalez filed a complaint Thursday in federal court in Texas against state prosecutors who prosecuted her in 2022 for “murder” after she induced her abortion to avoid carrying her pregnancy to term.
Since September 1, 2021, months before the United States Supreme Court struck down the constitutional guarantee protecting abortion, abortion has been banned in Texas after 6 weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of incest or rape. . In theory, women who seek an abortion are exempt from criminal prosecution. Only doctors who perform abortions and people who help or encourage them face up to 99 years in prison. A bonus for reporting, which can amount to $10,000, is even offered to any citizen who participates in this vast enterprise of cleaning up illegal practices. Some women, whose fetus presented a malformation or was affected by Down syndrome, were prevented by the courts from obtaining an abortion.
Misoprostol pill
In April 2022, Lizelle Herrera Gonzalez, then 26, was 19 weeks pregnant when she used misoprostol, one of two drugs used in medical abortions. Misoprostol is also used to treat stomach ulcers. After taking this pill, the young woman underwent an obstetric examination at the hospital and was discharged with abdominal pain. The next day she returned with bleeding and the exam revealed no fetal heartbeat. Doctors then performed a cesarean section to deliver a stillborn baby. The hospital, according to court documents attached to the complaint Thursday, reported the voluntary abortion to the Starr County prosecutor's office, which then charged the woman with murder, even though the law does not provide for it, and d voluntary abortion.
In a country where prosecutors are elected by the population, on the basis of politicized programs, the case sounded like a warning to all women who dared to defy the law.
Gonzalez was arrested and detained for two days and two nights then released on bail before the charges were dropped, thanks to the mobilization of rights groups and associations.
The prosecutor admitted having known, before the start of the proceedings, that they were illegal
The complaint targets Starr County, near the border with Mexico, where the case took place, District Attorney Gocha Ramirez and his deputy Alexandria Lynn Barrera. In her lawsuit, Lizelle Herrera Gonzalez claims the arrest and indictment caused her reputational damage - her name having been revealed by authorities - and moral distress; she seeks to “assert her rights, but also to hold accountable the officials who violated them”. Cecilia Garza, his lawyer, is seeking one million dollars in damages. “The consequences of Defendants’ illegal and unconstitutional actions have forever changed Plaintiff’s life,” court documents state.
Prosecutor Gocha Ramirez said Friday he had not yet received a complaint and declined to comment. Starr County Judge Eloy Vera, the county's top elected official, also declined to comment.
A few weeks ago, Gocha Ramirez agreed to pay a $1,250 fine as part of a settlement with the State Bar of Texas for wrongfully initiating the criminal charges against Lizelle. The bar's investigation found that Ramirez authorized his assistant to take the case to a grand jury and lied when he said he was unaware of the charges before they were filed in court. County. The prosecutor also accepted a suspended suspension of his law license, for a period of one year starting Monday, April 1.