Legal scholars and abortion rights advocates said the implications of Lizelle Herrera’s...
Anti-abortion demonstrators rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 1, 2021, in Washington, D.C. A 26-year-old woman was arrested and jailed in South Texas last week over a self-induced abortion just months after Texas banned most abortions and weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court could roll back 50 years of federal abortion protections.
Many details of Herrera’s arrest remained unknown on Monday. Prosecutors never publicly released the criminal indictment or the exact allegations, and in a brief statement Sunday, Starr County District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez said his office was moving to dismiss the charge — a direct reversal from its previous stance. Ramirez did not respond to a request for comment Monday.“In reviewing this case, it is clear that Ms.
Texas’ virtual abortion ban, Senate Bill 8, which was passed last year by Republican lawmakers and prohibits abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, is not enforced using criminal prosecution but rather civil suits filed by citizens. The law also specifically exempts pregnant people and targets instead on those who “aid or abet” an abortion, such as a doctor or a family member who provides transportation.
If Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in 1973, is overturned by the high court’s now conservative majority, however, Texas and other states would be free to reverse course. Sepper noted that members of the Legislature have proposed laws that would make the penalty for an abortion capital punishment.
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