Texas Woman Charged With Murder for 'Illegal Abortion'

[Native]

Last edited Sat Apr 9, 2022, 12:20 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: The Daily Beast

A Starr County, Texas, woman was arrested and charged with murder on Thursday after authorities said she performed an “illegal abortion,” according to KVEO. Lizelle Herrera, 26, was arrested in connection with a “self-induced abortion,” a Starr County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told the network. The office decided to pursue the arrest after it was told she “intentionally and knowingly caused the death of an individual by self-induced abortion.” No further details on the case were immediately available. Herrera’s being held on a $500,000 bond, and the case is still being investigated. The case comes as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has taken a hard anti-abortion stance, passing legislation banning the procedure after six weeks.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-woman-lizelle-herrera-arrested-for-murder-for-illegal-abortion?ref=home

---

UPDATE:

La Frontera Fund, an abortion assistance group based in the Rio Grande Valley area, planned a protest Saturday outside the jail where Herrera is being held.

"This arrest is inhumane. We are demanding the immediate release of Lizelle Herrera.' said Frontera Fund founder Rockie Gonzalez said, according to Texas Public Radio. "What is alleged is that she was in the hospital and had a miscarriage and divulged some information to hospital staff, who then reported her to the police."

https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-woman-charged-with-murder-after-self-induced-abortion-2022-4

[Faux pas]

1. Kickin' with DISGUST

and

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

45. DISGUSTING . . . .

is the person who ratted her out. May they ROT in HELL.

[barbtries]

110. i read that it was someone at the hospital

when she presented with a miscarriage. This is a violation of her right to privacy. and 1/2 million bail?! are you fucking kidding me.

[mahina]

127. Same! However the DA did drop the charges

Perhaps because Texas Republicans figured out that women are not going to be even having this crap when the next election rolls around in August

Peace and healing to Lizelle.

[hlthe2b]

2. The War on Women is about to become true genocide--FEMICIDE

I hate these people...

[niyad]

77. Exactly.

[Novara]

3. A clump of cells is not "an individual."

[Rebl2]

22. No it is not

[Turbineguy]

4. I miss the Soviet Union.

[TeamProg]

12. I miss the Taliban... n/t

[Hekate]

5. Who is surprised at this? Anyone?

[Warpy]

6. Nope. I'm waiting to jail the first women with a stillbirth as a murdress.

You know that's where these patriarchs are headed. They want to turn Texas into El Salvador.

[Hekate]

50. And we know they will. Miscarriages, too.

[Bengus81]

72. Only for certain miscarriages only

[MarcA]

7. If the father was a Repug Rep or someone with $$$

the abortion would have done and we would have never heard about it.

[Rebl2]

23. Yep

[txwhitedove]

8. OMG, charged with murder. No details on how or how far along she was. ??

Would a "morning after" pill be considered murder? Damn glad my granddaughter just told me school assigned reading is Handmaid's Tale!

[llmart]

14. Handmaid's Tale

My son's English teacher his junior year assigned that book to the class. He was in AP English and he absolutely loved that teacher and her class. He graduated in 1989 and still keeps in touch with her. She was a very tough teacher and expected the best out of all her students. I remember when he was reading it and he kept talking to me about it and saying "Mom, you've got to read this book. It's amazing." So I did and it was.

[SergeStorms]

37. The teacher would be arrested now.

Let's put it this way, I hope the teacher would be arrested. In Florida or Texas they'd probably be executed.

[llmart]

39. This was actually in North Carolina.

He had some amazing teachers in high school but he was also a very intellectually curious person - interested in everything.

[OldBaldy1701E]

69. I remember having some of those NC teachers.

It is truly a shame that my home state has decided to go down the rabbit hole after a more centered political stance in the past. But I am old. (We also gave the world Jesse Helms, so... yeah...)

[Random Boomer]

108. I remember a different Texas, too

The state where Ann Richards was governor, and where we had the prominent voices of Molly Ivins and Barbara Jordan.

[llmart]

109. Jesse Helms - ugh...

I remember him. When Harvey Gantt ran against him I was supporting Gantt (my son and his daughter were good friends) and had a bumper sticker on my car. When Gantt lost a couple of redneck guys that worked with me put a black rose on my desk one morning and thought it was hilarious. I was furious, but being a native Northerner didn't make any waves.

It was difficult back then to be a "yankee", an educated strong woman from the North. It was quite the learning experience yet I still love the geography of the state - the mountains, the coast, it's all very beautiful.

[OldBaldy1701E]

122. It is still my favorite place to be.

Even as I have moved farther away from her. Yes, she has her problems, just as anyone does, but she also has greatness and I prefer to remember that over the current insanity that has taken over her government.

[hlthe2b]

81. THIS is why I could never watch the show. Hit too close to reality and prescient to what is to come

[keroro gunsou]

106. i read that in HS too

back in the late 80's. At the end of junior year, seniors who were planning on enrolling in AP english were given a list of 30 or so books by the AP teacher, who expected us to read at least 5 of them to prepare for the AP class. I read the list and handed it back, telling the teacher that i had already read on the list in the past 2 years, so she told me to pick any 5 books and she'd approve them. one of the books i picked was Handmaid's Tale, which raised her eyebrow but she let it slide. First day of class we had to write an essay about any of the books we had read, I wimped out and did The Hobbit. Anyway, over the course of the 1st semester we dissected our books with a provrebial scanning electron microscope, which required us to have the book we work on to on hand. That said, I picked Handmaid's Tale because it was the one that interested me before, it was goold old Dystopian literature (i was a depressing emo before emo kid back then). Several of my other teachers gave me some seriously dirty looks when i was reading it, one even confronted me over it in his class. he was a garden variety domionist in training (i went to a catholic and VERY conservative high school) and rudely asked me why i was bothering to read such garbage. I responded with equal rudeness that it was going to help me later in life on the off chance asshats like you take over. he was not amused and dragged me physically to see the principal, who was in fact amused at the teacher's overreaction to my comment. so i got out of class and spent the rest of the period discussing the book with the principal. who was just as freaked out as i was by the content (catholic priest). one of my better memories from school.

[Beartracks]

27. It will in OK soon.

[Diamond_Dog]

9. Unbelievable.

[Lovie777]

10. There are thousands more and numbers are climbing.....

It won't stop abortions, the repeat of history tells the story.

Oh that's right, history is part of a well rounded education.

[TeamProg]

11. The Constitution says clearly that an offspring is not deemed a person of citizenship until they

are born.

[LeftInTX]

60. No it doesn't.

Many people have been found guilty of murdering fetuses.
Scott Peterson...

[TeamProg]

93. You missed my point entirely.

Your post only confirms the same pro-life argument, not the argument of the Constition's definition of a person of citizenship.

[LeftInTX]

107. Every state has criminal laws against harming fetuses.

They have not been ruled unconstitutional. I'm not stating my opinion. I'm just pointing out that there are laws

https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/fetal-homicide-state-laws.aspx

[bucolic_frolic]

13. Was she under surveillance? Where did this info come from?

[DBoon]

15. which person has a grudge against her or a score to settle?

[Native]

17. Don't forget that $10,000 reward!

The law, a near-total ban on abortions, includes several provisions that experts say tilt the scale toward plaintiffs, including protecting serial plaintiffs who could file dozens or hundreds of cases, incentivizing civilians to sue with a $10,000 cash reward if successful and removing defendants’ ability to recoup their legal fees. If survivors of rape become pregnant and seek an abortion, those procedures could become the object of lawsuits.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/10/texas-abortion-law-ban-enforcement/

[SergeStorms]

40. That's the incentive, right there.

Texas has professional bounty hunters right now, out there actively looking for someone who they think has had an abortion, or facilitated someone to have an abortion.

I don't see how this could be upheld in higher courts. The State of Texas is creating a class of snitches, but only for one "crime" that they created out of thin air that has been decided by the Supreme Court to be the law of the land.

Now if they can get away with that horse-shit we might just as well turn out the lights, because the party is over. The theo-fascists have won and they won't stop until we're all singing "onward christian soldiers" to government forced church services seven days a week.

This shit pisses me off.

[milestogo]

26. She was seen eating beet soup in a diner.

[mysteryowl]

16. Is this a case for the ACLU?

[Native]

18. And Texas is ground zero for executions - #1 @ 563, next in line is GA @ 74

[SergeStorms]

42. Yes, the sanctity of life.....

and other lies like that.

[Cozmo]

19. WAKE UP TEXAS!

Is this the kind of BS you want in your lives, cuz that what you got

[certainot]

31. good luck. prob 100 RW radio stations in texass. but 5 universities broadcast sports on, support, 16

xlimbaugh stations that push that crap all day - for 30 years - and get those politicians elected.

TEXAS 16 Texas A&M 9, Texas Tech 4, Texas 1, Texas Christian 1, Baylor 1

start a debate at uni of texas and enough advertisers will head for the hills in anticipation the uni will find alternatives to cause significant numbers of texas advertisers on rw radio stations to start going elsewhere

in texas it'll be tougher but there are places, like the cities, where it could make a difference

[pansypoo53219]

20. is there forced fatherhood? are miscarriages illegal too?

[Solly Mack]

21. K&R

I'm livid. Not surprised. Livid.

[Joinfortmill]

24. Enough! We must vote these self righteous bastards out

[ashredux]

25. Self induced.? WTF...and she ain't in the Abbot "folks"

[intheflow]

67. "Self-induced" is what jumped out at me, too.

Like, she could have killed herself inducing an abortion, but she didn't so the state will try to ill her instead. Fucking fascists!

[niyad]

124. Abortion pills, per another article. TX trying to outlaw those as well.

[ramapo]

28. Why do women put up with this shit?

Seriously… I do not get it

[Hekate]

29. Are you a woman?

[Native]

30. Are you f****** serious?

[ShazzieB]

58. What a question.

I am speechless.

[DFW]

32. Here we go: "decided to pursue the arrest after it was told...."

Told by WHOM????

I hereby tell the Starr County Sheriff's Office that a bunch of cruel busybodies raped some kids, robbed a bank, poured cyanide in the water system, and beat their grandmothers to a bloody pulp. Oh, yeah, and I saw the littering, too. And at least half of them were deputies from the Starr County Sheriff's Office.

[Hekate]

52. Told by a bounty hunter for the $10,000 reward. It certainly would be only fair if their names...

…were made public.

[muriel_volestrangler]

59. Someone at a hospital?

La Frontera Fund, a Rio Grande Valley-based abortion assistance fund, planned a protest for Saturday morning outside the Starr County Jail.

“This arrest is inhumane. We are demanding the immediate release of Lizelle Herrera.’ said Rockie Gonzalez, founder and board chair of Frontera Fund. “What is alleged is that she was in the hospital and had a miscarriage and divulged some information to hospital staff, who then reported her to the police.”

“This is a developing story and we don’t yet know all the details surrounding this tragic event, what we do know is that criminalizing pregnant people’s choices or pregnancy outcomes, which the state of Texas has done, takes away people’s autonomy over their own bodies, and leaves them with no safe options when they choose not to become a parent,” Gonzalez explained.

https://www.tpr.org/news/2022-04-08/texas-woman-charged-with-murder-for-self-induced-abortion

Link to tweet

[LeftInTX]

61. Thanks for this! I couldn't find anything more.

Sick bastards....

[mcar]

70. If hospital staff turned her in, isn't that a HIPAA violation?

and what kind of unfeeling wretch would do something like that?

[mtngirl47]

84. $10,000. n/t

[obamanut2012]

100. A nurse in the hospital

As per Jezebel.

[DownriverDem]

33. This is only the beginning

I hope the voters come out in huge numbers and defeat as many repubs as we can.

[orleans]

34. echoing downriver dem: this is only the beginning

can you just fucking imagine??
26 yrs old, your name in the news for having an abortion???
a "self induced"???
and they stick you in jail with a fucking $500,000 bond?????

they need to do a suicide watch for that poor girl.

i hope there is a way for her to turn this crap around and sue the shit out of abbott and the goddamn state

on edit: this girl's picture is up at the news linked from daily beast. how horrifying

[Evolve Dammit]

35. We are in "civil war." They want us in bondage or serfdom with no rights except fealty. Fuck 'em.

[Fla Dem]

36. And so it begins. Our rapid descent into lunacy, misogyny and persecution.

[niyad]

94. We have been there for quite some time.

[Fla Dem]

113. Not to the point of arresting women under a terrible law.

Been a lot talk, now the horrendous act of arresting a women because she actually took control of her own body.

[niyad]

125. Sorry, but there have been multiple cases over the years of women jailed

for "harm to fetus" and similar. DU has covered them extensively.

[GenThePerservering]

112. "So it begins"???

Uh...it began sometime ago.

[Fla Dem]

114. Thanks for the heads up. In case you missed it another poster already posted to make me aware.

See my reply to that poster.

[ShazzieB]

38. Oh, Texas.....

[Quixote1818]

41. Time to take to the streets big time! This is fucked up on an epic level! nt

[dchill]

43. THIS is what Jesus wants!

[in2herbs]

44. Is there a Go Fund Me page to donate to help bail her out? I hope this is a case for the ACLU.

I notice that the article says she "intentionally and knowing caused the death of an individual". Too early to even know the gender of the fetus??

Whether they drop the case against her or not, I hope she sues these TX f***ers and gets a good settlement.

Whether intended or not, this arrest will compromise the forthcoming Roe decision on a number of levels, and not in a good way.

[PatrickforB]

46. Just an observation, Native...if we cannot get people to turn out en masse to

vote these Republican facist-imbeciles out of office this November, I question whether we will be able to successfully keep our republic.

I suggest we all shout loud and long about every single instance of this, and that we work together to make Republican war on women a household term, much like Bernie did when he moved the Overton window around universal health care. Now, everyone is familiar with the term Medicare for all Americans.

Same with this war on women. It must become a household term, and we have to stop softpedaling. We need to POUND back, blow for blow. Loud, long, and ugly. Play hardball.

Otherwise we won't last long as a republic.

[Native]

47. I'm confident we will fight back.

[Martin68]

48. The War is here. Old Testament patriarchs fighting a rear guard war against equal rights.

[Moosepoop]

49. I thought the Texas law only allowed for lawsuits, not arrests..??

Wasn't that supposed to be why the law couldn't be challenged, even though it went against Roe's constitutional right to an abortion in the first trimester?

It was supposed to only subject the provider of an abortion (or anyone who "aids & abets" the woman in obtaining it), to lawsuits. The woman herself is not subject to the lawsuits, just the providers, aiders, and abetters. The person(s) filing the lawsuits could get the $10,000 bounties.

But there was to be NO actual law enforcement, arrests, or charges, only the civil suits. That's the whole point -- there is no criminal element to the law, therefore no means to challenge the constitutionality of it.

All I can figure is, either the Sheriff's Office and/or the Prosecutor's Office really screwed the pooch on this one, or the lady was so far along in her pregnancy that she fell outside the protection of Roe (which is still valid as of the moment).

Or I'm missing something.

[Native]

54. SB4 - separate law

The bounty law/heartbeat act Texas passed last year was Senate Bill 8. It took effect on 9/21. The subsequent law, Senate Bill 4, banned self-induced abortions after seven weeks of pregnancy. That law is enforceable by state authorities, and it imposes jail time.

[Moosepoop]

56. Thank you, Native.

That makes sense now (as much sense as can be made of these non-sensical laws!!).

[LeftInTX]

62. I read the law can only prosecute providers..(doctors etc)

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-medication-abortion-pill-ban-ineffective/

There isn't enough details about this case.

I'm sure their DA is Democrat, but considering that this is the RGV, they can be very conservative.

[Native]

75. It sounds that way, but I read several articles that state this is how they will be able to go after

the women who take the pills.

[Native]

78. I think this is the crux of the matter....

Texas law speaks of 'aiding and abetting' an abortion, but does not address situations wherein it is the recipient of the abortion who 'aids and abets.'

[LeftInTX]

88. I wonder if her fetus had reached viability?

In that case, it could possibly be reported without a HIPAA violation.

They charged a woman in Indiana with murder a few years ago. She went in with a miscarriage complications and told the staff that she had taken pills. She was 25 weeks pregnant. They sentenced for to 20 years. She was in prison for a year and then her case was overturned.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/26/indiana-woman-feticide-charge

[Native]

89. Or the hospital has some ridiculously, overarching reporting policy designed to cover their

collective asses. You know, basic overreaction to the new laws.

But, I did read that article last night and thought the same thing you're hypothesizing.

[walkingman]

51. Republic of Gilead - Enough is Enough

[pecosbob]

53. I know Starr County...one of the poorest counties in the nation.

[SunSeeker]

55. OMFG. A blastocyst is not an "individual."

This is nuts. It would never pass Constitutional muster but for the insane clown posse that now comprises the SCOTUS majority.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

57. Will Texas women be required to wear burqas next?

Will this be a common scene in Dallas evangelical churches next month? Will they be allowed to fly on their pastor's private jet?



Events in Texas often remind me of news articles describing directives for women from the Taliban and ISIS during Republican Middle Eastern and south-central Asian wars.

Possibly coming soon from Texas other red states: Legal execution of female family members who have broken their thug male rules.

KY.........

[Novara]

63. Texas Taliban

[E. Normus]

64. okay, here we go.

So now a zygote, or similar cluster of human cells is a "individual". Who will be surprised when some guy is accused of mass murder after jerking off?

[Native]

65. We all know that will never happen. This is all about women, not babies.

[E. Normus]

66. You know

many believe life begins at erection.

[mcar]

68. And we're off

women's rights are being destroyed.

[The Jungle 1]

71. The Christofascist are wrong.

After God formed man in Genesis 2, He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and it was then that the man became a living being”. Although the man was fully formed by God in all respects, he was not a living being until after taking his first breath.
They just make it up as they go.

[dalton99a]

73. Lizelle Herrera

Lizelle Herrera, 26, was arrested on Thursday by the Starr County Sheriff’s Office and charged with murder. (photo: Starr County Sheriff’s Office)

[roody]

74. We are now El Salvador.

[niyad]

76. and the WAR ON WOMEN continues apace. Would you consider cross-posting this in

Women's Rights And Issues? Thanks in advance.

[Native]

79. Niyad, can you please cross-post it?

[niyad]

80. My pos computer will not let me link or copy and paste.

[Native]

90. How do I cross post?

I did it once before, but that was in like 2004. Lol.

[niyad]

95. Same way you did it here.

[Native]

96. Just link to this page? Or do you just want the original post duplicated?

[niyad]

97. If you woud, please, I would like the original post duplicated.

[Native]

101. You got it.

Oops, I see you've already posted it. Thanks.

[CrispyQ]

82. Will they give her the death penalty?

In their eyes women are slaves to the precious fetus.

Abortion and the 13th Amendment
2010
Forced Labor, Revisited: The Thirteenth Amendment and Abortion
Andrew Koppelman
Northwestern University School of Law, [e-mail]

https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1031&context=facultyworkingpapers

snip...

I. The basic argument The Thirteenth Amendment reads as follows:

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

My claim is that the amendment is violated by laws that prohibit abortion. When women are compelled to carry and bear children, they are subjected to "involuntary servitude" in violation of the amendment. Abortion prohibitions violate the Amendment's guarantee of personal liberty, because forced pregnancy and childbirth, by compelling the woman to serve the fetus, creates "that control by which the personal service of one man [sic] is disposed of or coerced for another's benefit which is the essence of involuntary servitude."6

Such laws violate the amendment's guarantee of equality, because forcing women to be mothers makes them into a servant caste, a group which, by virtue of a status of birth, is held subject to a special duty to serve others and not themselves.

~more at link

Parents can't be compelled to donate their organs to their child, even to save the child's life. Why does a fetus have more claim on a woman's body than her child who has been born?

I would add that when you place life in a hierarchy and claim one life has more value than another, all the "sanctity of life" arguments lost their validity.

THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION A WOMAN CAN MAKE ISN'T YOURS.

[Native]

83. Great post. Thanks!

[Native]

85. Updated my OP with more info.

[Pepsidog]

86. Texas will next start burning women at the stake suspected of witchcraft. Bonfires of Vanities up

next. There are plenty of Savonarolas around Texas just waiting to burn it all down in the name of God.

[BobTheSubgenius]

87. Certainly not at the top of the list of awfulness in this story, but...

...definitely worth consideration is how this is going to affect open and honest communication between patient and health care provider.

This is absolutely appalling. Medieval.

[Blue_Tires]

91. Is there any proof? or is a simple accusation enough to damn someone?

[Blue_Tires]

92. It didn't escape my notice that the first person to get charged was a minority

[Paladin]

98. A minority with a significantly-sized conservative segment in Texas.

And they vote---helping to keep Abbott, Patrick, Paxton et al in office, as well as their sick policies on abortion in effect.

[Blue Owl]

99. Take us back to the glorious days of witch dunking tanks, GOP... Take us back...

[mackdaddy]

111. Traffic Stop

Still chills me, but where we are headed in these red states..

[orangecrush]

116. So they lynch women in Texas now

Legally.

[NotANeocon]

117. It really is TIME -

to stop pretending abortion has anything to do with ethics or morals and admit that it is just a method of gathering anti rights bigots who will vote to keep misogynists in power AND MAKING MONEY.

[SpankMe]

118. America is moving backwards at breakneck speed

We'll be hunting with stone knives in 5 years if Republicans continue to rule.

[NotANeocon]

119. Less lethal than AK47

[DonCoquixote]

120. this was quick

if I had my way Susan Sarandon, Ted Rall, Jimmy Dore, and all the other creeps who said the supreme court did not matter would be paying this woman's legal bills.

Eerie thought, if she is found "guilty" of murder, would they use the death penalty?

[Native]

121. Well, Texas certainly has the best track record in that department!

[dlk]

123. This was the desired outcome for Texas Republicans

Brutalizing women is their sadistic goal. It’s horrifying and I fear, is only going to get worse.

[Old Crank]

126. Charges dropped by the DA