Lizelle Herrera was arrested Thursday and transferred to Starr County Jail in Rio Grande City, along the Rio Grande and the country’s southern border with Mexico. In a statement to the AP, the local sheriff’s office said Herrera had been charged with “intentionally and knowingly causing the death of a person by self-induced abortion”, without giving details of which law she had violated. He has been released on bail and has retained legal advice. Her lawyer, Calixtro Villarreal, declined to comment. The news of Herrera’s arrest was first reported by Monitor, a newspaper based in McAllen, Texas. A few details about the arrest were confirmed by Saturday afternoon. A spokesman for the Texas Civil Liberties Union declined to comment until the organization has learned more about the case. It was also unclear whether authorities claimed Herrera had an abortion that violated the law or helped someone else do it. Neither the Starr County Sheriff’s Office nor the District Attorney’s Office responded to requests for comment. Oklahoma clinics are preparing to ban abortions Texas passed a law in September banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before most women find out they are pregnant. In a method aimed at avoiding judicial review, law enforcement was left to individuals and not to government officials. Under the bill, called the Senate Bill 8, anyone can sue anyone for having an abortion or helping someone have an abortion after six weeks. But this law has only civil consequences, not criminal ones. It is unclear, therefore, what legal principles they relied on to prosecute Herrera. “This arrest is inhumane,” said Rockie Gonzalez, founder of the Frontera Fund. In an interview, Gonzalez said she expects an “aggressive appearance” from abortion rights defenders as Herrera’s case progresses. previous. “ The arrest comes as Republican-led states across the country rush to approve abortion restrictions ahead of a Supreme Court ruling this summer that could significantly overturn or weaken Roe vs. Wadethe case guaranteeing access to abortion at national level since 1973. Follow up on new abortion legislation in all states Texas is one of nine states that still have an abortion ban on its books, which was previously voted Roe. Prosecutors may have made these allegations beforeRoe with the ban in mind, said Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas Law School who specializes in federal courts and has closely followed the abortion ban in Texas. This ban, which criminalizes abortions, is unconstitutional Roe and does not apply. In addition, Vladeck noted, Texas law explicitly exempts a woman from the charge of criminal homicide for terminating her pregnancy. He said either prosecutors do not know about the exception, or they have a theory as to why the exception does not apply in this case. “It is possible that a prosecutor thought, ‘It’s a new case I can now bring because of the pressure SB 8 has created,’” Vladeck said. “Local prosecutors are not necessarily omniscient.” At least A Texas lawmaker recently tried to impose parts of theRoe ban. State lawmaker Briscoe Cain (R) issued letters of cessation and resignation in March to every group in Texas that helps fund abortions, calling them “criminal organizations.” If the Supreme Court is overthrown RoeVladeck said there would likely be more such accusations across the country as other states move to enforce pre-Roe bans or criminalize the process in other ways. In the Herrera case, he added, prosecutors and others involved may hope to prevent people from trying to gain access to abortion in Texas. One of the goals of this arrest could be “to reassure people from having abortions of any kind,” he said.
