A girl in Texas who was falsely charged with homicide over a self-induced abortion in 2022 has filed a lawsuit in opposition to the native prosecutor’s workplace and its leaders, looking for greater than $1 million in damages.
Lizelle Gonzalez was arrested in April 2022 in Starr County, close to the southeastern border with Mexico, and charged with homicide after utilizing the drug misoprostol to self-induce an abortion, 19 weeks into her being pregnant. She spent two nights in jail earlier than the charge was dropped.
Self-induced abortions can seek advice from these carried out exterior {of professional} medical care, together with the usage of abortion tablets. Underneath Texas legislation on the time, abortions after six weeks had been unlawful, however pregnant women are exempt from criminal prosecution. (Well being care professionals who present abortion procedures and medicine, and others who assist somebody get an abortion, can nonetheless be liable.)
Ms. Gonzalez, who was referred to as Lizelle Herrera and 26 on the time of her arrest, filed a grievance on Thursday in opposition to Starr County, together with its district lawyer, Gocha Ramirez, and assistant district lawyer, Alexandria Lynn Barrera. She argues that the arrest and cost resulted in her struggling reputational hurt and misery, and seeks to “vindicate her rights but also to hold accountable the government officials who violated them,” based on her lawsuit.
Ms. Gonzalez and her legal professionals weren’t instantly obtainable for touch upon Saturday.
Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Barrera additionally didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the lawsuit. A month in the past, the state bar of Texas discovered that Mr. Ramirez had unlawfully prosecuted Ms. Gonzalez with out possible trigger and fined him $1,250. His legislation license may also be held in probated suspension for a yr, which suggests he should adjust to particular necessities however can apply legislation throughout that point. That interval begins April 1.
In keeping with the grievance, Ms. Gonzalez took the abortion remedy in January 2022 and went to the hospital for an examination. Docs discovered a constructive heartbeat for the child and no contractions, so she was discharged the subsequent day. However later that day, she returned to the hospital with complaints of vaginal bleeding, and medical doctors carried out a C-section to ship a stillborn baby.
The Meals and Drug Administration has approved the usage of misoprostol and mifepristone, one other generally used abortion tablet, via 10 weeks of being pregnant, below the supervision of a well being care supplier. However the World Well being Group endorses self-induced abortions in pregnancies of as much as 12 weeks with out medical supervision.
Ms. Gonzalez says within the lawsuit that the hospital staff reported her self-induced abortion to the district lawyer’s workplace, in violation of federal privateness legal guidelines, although her lawsuit doesn’t identify them or the hospital as defendants.
The lawsuit says that neither the Starr County Sheriff’s Workplace nor the Rio Grande Metropolis Police Division carried out an investigation with enough information or circumstances surrounding the homicide cost in opposition to her, and solely relied on reviews from the hospital. Ms. Gonzalez additionally accuses them of deceptive the grand jury with false info to safe an indictment in opposition to her.
“The fallout from defendants’ illegal and unconstitutional actions has forever changed” Ms. Gonzalez’s life, the grievance says. She “was subjected to the humiliation of a highly publicized indictment and arrest, which has permanently affected her standing in the community.”
When the cost in opposition to Ms. Gonzalez was dropped, Mr. Ramirez said that it was “clear” that she “cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her,” and acknowledged that “the events leading up to this indictment have taken a toll” on Ms. Gonzalez and her household. On the time, the anti-abortion group Texas Proper to Life supported Mr. Ramirez’s resolution to drop the costs, saying Texas’ legislation “clearly prohibit criminal charges for pregnant women.”
Ms. Gonzalez’s indictment occurred a number of months earlier than the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and earlier than Texas’ near-total ban on abortions went into effect. Even with the stricter ban, those that get an abortion can’t be criminally prosecuted.
Melissa Murray, a legislation professor at New York College, mentioned Ms. Gonzalez’s lawsuit might serve to lift consciousness in Texas and past, to “understand that we are moving very quickly into a kind of dystopian, post-Dobbs landscape.”
“I think she could be very successful here,” Ms. Murray mentioned of Ms. Gonzalez. “And if she isn’t, even if it doesn’t make it to trial, she could make him pay to settle this,” referring to Mr. Ramirez.
The lawsuit might act as a deterrent to different officers across the state, Ms. Murray mentioned. Nevertheless it might additionally “have the effect of spurring the anti-abortion movement to lobby the Legislature to actually make pregnant people subject to criminal or civil liability.”
Roni Caryn Rabin, Giulia Heyward and Sophie Kasakove contributed reporting.
