TX woman charged with murder for "self induced" abortion

[Howl]

I'm dropping this here instead of the Politics forum because the evisceration of Roe v. Wade and draconian anti-abortion laws are the direct result of extreme fundamentalist  Christian beliefs infiltrating our entire legal system. 

A 26-year-old woman in Starr County, TX (on the border with Mexico) has been charged with murder for supposedly self-inducing an abortion.  Sadly, this story is being carried widely on  Texas and national news outlets with the woman's name and booking photo featured prominently. Her life has turned to shit.  I've deleted her name in quoted text below. 

These are the charges: 

According to a sheriff’s office spokesperson, [the woman] was arrested after it was learned she "intentionally and knowingly cause[d] the death of an individual by self-induced abortion." 

Her bond is set at $500,000. 

This Newsweek article is somewhat more detailed: Texas Woman Charged With Murder for 'Self-Induced' Abortion

According to a Newsweek article,  Gonzalez [founder of La Frontera Fund, a Rio Grande Valley-based abortion assistance fund] said that while her group did not know all the details, [the woman] had been allegedly in the hospital, had a miscarriage and then "divulged some information to hospital staff, who then reported her to the police."

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by Howl

[hoipolloi]

This is sickening and enraging. 

 

[Howl]

43 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

This is sickening and enraging.

Yes, it is. Poor women of color having miscarriages have been the main targets so far. 

[zee_four]

Sadly there's women in prison currently for trying to commit suicide but only miscarrying and a lot of other BS. Anti choicers think this will never happen but this is also how women die, by miscarrying and refusing to get medical help or talking to their doctor because they'll be charged with murder. Meanwhile white men get to shoot actual people of color and don't get charged with anything. The hypocrisy is so infuriating

EDIT- primarily women of color

Edited April 9, 2022 by zee_four
Forgot detail

[Caroline]

Handmaid's Tale Texas Style.  I wish they would secede and take all the others like them with them.  Not a place I ever thought of visiting, but now I know I definitely won't.  I'm sorry for all of you FJ Texans who have to live with this nonsense.

 

[samurai_sarah]

That's absolutely disgusting. Texas must have mistaken "The Handmaid's Tale" for a practical "how to" guide.

Cross-posted with @Caroline

Edited April 9, 2022 by samurai_sarah

[zee_four]

6 hours ago, Howl said:

I'm dropping this here instead of the Politics forum because the evisceration of Roe v. Wade and draconian anti-abortion laws are the direct result of extreme fundamentalist  Christian beliefs infiltrating our entire legal system. 

A 26-year-old woman in Starr County, TX (on the border with Mexico) has been charged with murder for supposedly self-inducing an abortion.  Sadly, this story is being carried widely on  Texas and national news outlets with the woman's name and booking photo featured prominently. Her life has turned to shit.  I've deleted her name in quoted text below. 

These are the charges: 

According to a sheriff’s office spokesperson, [the woman] was arrested after it was learned she "intentionally and knowingly cause[d] the death of an individual by self-induced abortion." 

Her bond is set at $500,000. 

This Newsweek article is somewhat more detailed: Texas Woman Charged With Murder for 'Self-Induced' Abortion

According to a Newsweek article,  Gonzalez [founder of La Frontera Fund, a Rio Grande Valley-based abortion assistance fund] said that while her group did not know all the details, [the woman] had been allegedly in the hospital, had a miscarriage and then "divulged some information to hospital staff, who then reported her to the police."

 

 

 

 

 

Also I know Starr County is almost 100% Latine (and not Tejañe but Latine). So there's either mandated reporting (which is BS) or the primarily white anti choice movement has convinced fellow Latine fundies (Catholic and Protestant there's a lot) to rat out on their own people which is just as gross, because I don't think they mention the little kicker that a wealthy white Christian woman won't go to jail for something like this let alone be charged while poor Latinas will. Sorry as someone who is Native the white conservative fundie attempt to hijack reproductive rights as a racial justice issue pisses me off like little else does.

[ADoyle90815]

This will also result in women dying from infections because of an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured their fallopian tube. 

[Howl]

In this instance, according to a Texas Public Radio website article,  the woman was in the hospital, had a miscarriage, said something to staff and then BOOM!, murder charges. 

With the insane new law re: abortion, hospitals have major paranoia about this or the nurse or other staff decided unilaterally that the law had to be notified. I'm sure hospitals have ethics people/lawyers on staff or on call. I wonder if they were consulted.   In addition, there are Catholic affiliated hospitals.  If this unfortunate young woman landed in one of those...

[Wolf in Sheeples’ Clothing]

So in America we’re now prosecuting women who have had miscarriages? What? Are we El Salvador now? Are we going to start jailing women who have had stillbirths? 

This is just sick and wrong on so many levels. 

[Giraffe]

So who gets the $10,000? Was it split between multiple people who wanted some extra cash? This is disgusting and only the beginning of what is to come. I hope she gets the best possible representation for this.

[zee_four]

15 minutes ago, Giraffe said:

So who gets the $10,000? Was it split between multiple people who wanted some extra cash? This is disgusting and only the beginning of what is to come. I hope she gets the best possible representation for this.

I highly highly doubt she will. The area has the lowest rate of non Hispanic whites in any county in the entire US and is almost 100% Latine. 50% of the population is under the federal poverty line. Poor woman is screwed. They'd rather spend money crucifying her than alleviating the poverty that I'm sure TX's backwards ass lack of social welfare makes worse. Fuck these people. Argh.

1 hour ago, Wolf in Sheeples’ Clothing said:

So in America we’re now prosecuting women who have had miscarriages? What? Are we El Salvador now? Are we going to start jailing women who have had stillbirths? 

This is just sick and wrong on so many levels. 

Sadly this isn't the first time. Women have been in jail yeats in places like Oklahoma and Indiana. One because she tried to kill herself, failed, but miscarried. This is sadly nothing new to many women, especially women of color in red states. They want to put us in jail for miscarriages meanwhile they're allowed to gun down our children, some of who they forced us to give birth to.  'Murica for the win. And they claim this toxicity is real racial justice while BLM is racist. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna332761

[BensAllergies]

All criminal charges against her have been dismissed. The new abortion law in TX doesn’t allow for women to be charged, so someone finally realized the state is forbidden from prosecuting her and is letting her go.

This is not the end however. Women can’t get a medically safe abortion in TX after 6 weeks. Those who can’t travel will resort to self-abortion and will end up getting harmed or worse.

[hoipolloi]

21 minutes ago, BensAllergies said:

The new abortion law in TX doesn’t allow for women to be charged, so someone finally realized the state is forbidden from prosecuting her and is letting her go.

I hope she sues the pants off everyone involved -- the hospital, the medical staff who "reported" her medical condition, the LE who "investigated" her case, and the DA's office who empaneled the grand jury that indicted her -- and I hope she wins big. 

 

[samurai_sarah]

22 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

I hope she sues the pants off everyone involved -- the hospital, the medical staff who "reported" her medical condition, the LE who "investigated" her case, and the DA's office who empaneled the grand jury that indicted her -- and I hope she wins big. 

 

ITA! They are the ones who broke the law, not her.

[Howl]

 

2 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

I hope she sues the pants off everyone involved -- the hospital, the medical staff who "reported" her medical condition, the LE who "investigated" her case, and the DA's office who empaneled the grand jury that indicted her -- and I hope she wins big. 

For damn sure.  It enrages me that she has been trashed in national media, with her name and booking photo prominently displayed all over the internet.  I'm not sure how this happened, unless someone "publicized" this information and it was then picked up nationally. 

It was my understanding with the draconian bounty law that the woman herself could not be charged, so how the hell did she get reported to police, who then charged her with murder?  It's just all kind of hinky. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Howl

[hoipolloi]

47 minutes ago, Howl said:

It was my understanding with the draconian bounty law that the woman herself could not be charged, so how the hell did she get reported to police, who then charged her with murder?  It's just all kind of hinky. 

All the above. 

Iʻm hoping to see some informed legal commentary soon on the legality of what happened and who might be liable for damages or even fines & prison time, as in violating HIPAA.

[Howl]

I suspect, based on no hard data whatsoever, that she was ratted out by a rabid anti-abortion religious fundamentalist, who has a rabid anti abortion fundamentalist friend/husband/relative in law enforcement. 

 

[Howl]

Useful information: Protecting Yourself from Criminalization for Self-Managed Abortion

[gustava]

Charges  have been dropped but still no information on why she was charged.

[Alisamer]

43 minutes ago, gustava said:

Charges  have been dropped but still no information on why she was charged.

I'm interested in the exact details of this, and hope that they come out at some point.

Because frankly, it could have been as simple as her mentioning to a nurse that she was relieved to have miscarried for whatever reason. 

Or something like, "oh, I had a sip of beer a few days ago, did that cause it?" or "I was in a minor fender-bender, could that have hurt the baby?"

I suspect it had to have been more than that, but... Texas. Could be as simple as her mentioning she was relieved to have miscarried because she'd been considering abortion. 

[Howl]

9 hours ago, Alisamer said:

I'm interested in the exact details of this, and hope that they come out at some point

Yes, I'm following closely as well, because it is ALL hinky as shit.  This woman was in the hospital having a miscarriage and ended up charged with murder.  I just feel like either trad Catholic or evangelical fundamentalist anti abortion fanaticism will be implicated at some point.  There are just so elements on the timeline where this insanity should have been stopped but wasn't. 

Edited April 12, 2022 by Howl

[Howl]

A bit more from Texas Public Radio 

DA moves to dismiss a murder charge against a Texas woman accused of a self-induced abortion   The specifics and strength of the case against Herrera were murky from the start.

Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said that based on the information available, the murder charge didn’t make sense.

“The Texas murder statute does apply to the killing of an unborn fetus," he said, "but it specifically exempts cases where the person who terminated the fetus is the pregnant woman.”

What continues to make me insanely angry is that this young woman has a beautiful but unique first name.  Every article I've read references her entire name.  Every. F**king. One. Including the one I linked above. Most include her booking photo.  

Every person in her family, church, social circle, work life now knows what happened and will judge accordingly.  

Total strangers, anyone she might meet in the near future will associate her with this.  This simply can't be undone.  It's insanely cruel in every way. 

 

 

[CarrotCake]

I am not sure how this works but can a lawyer from another state step in to help her? It was even on the news here in Europe so you would expect at least one lawyer will volunteer to help her sue.

[Howl]

4 hours ago, CarrotCake said:

I am not sure how this works but can a lawyer from another state step in to help her?

A local abortion rights group stepped up and protested at the jail where she was being held.  I'm sure an abortion rights group will offer legal support should she choose to sue.   I'd guess anyone with a Texas law license has standing to sue in Texas; there would be no need for an out-of-state lawyer. 

She has a lot of decisions to make at this time.  Does she want to become a cause célèbre for abortion rights and have her entire life come under a spotlight?  Does she want to fade into obscurity?  I hope she's getting some extremely sound, non-exploitative legal advice and solid counseling. 

Yes, she could end up with a huge payout from a successful lawsuit, but sometimes a massive influx of money can be hugely disruptive in a person's life, especially if they are under the sway of predatory exploiters and/or a greedy spouse or relatives or have no idea how to manage their newly acquired funds. 

Edited April 12, 2022 by Howl