Dear John,
Last week on Thursday, April 7, Texas sheriffs arrested and charged Lizelle Herrera with murder for allegedly self-inducing an abortion.
Over a week later, many of the details leading up to Herrera’s arrest still remain unknown. What we do know: on March 30, the Starr County Clerk’s office filed an indictment against Herrera, stating that she “intentionally and knowingly cause the death of an individual” via a self-induced abortion. She was charged with murder, and her bail was set at half a million dollars.
As Ms. contributing editor Carrie Baker reported last weekend, the accusations against her represent an “extreme and unprecedented misuse of Texas law.” The accusations also fly directly in the face of her constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade — and what’s more, Texas does not have any laws on the books restricting self-induced abortion.
While Herrera has been released, and the charges against her have since been dropped, the fact remains that law enforcement officials were more than willing to put a woman in jail just for exercising autonomy over her own body.
The good news here is that Herrera’s case shows abortion rights advocates are not going to go down without a fight. As soon as the news of her arrest broke, local independent abortion funds jumped into action. Organizers with La Frontera Fund immediately organized a protest outside Starr County Jail, and worked with national reproductive legal advocacy group If/When/How to post Herrera’s bail.
As abortion restrictions continue to be passed and implemented in states hostile to abortion rights, the work of abortion funds and advocates on the front lines will grow more and more crucial. This week alone, two new Mississippi-style 15-week bans were passed into law — one in Florida that will take effect in July, and one in Kentucky (passed with a Republican-led override of the Democratic governor’s veto) that took effect immediately. And of course, we continue to anticipate a repeal or severe gutting of Roe v. Wade in June when the Supreme Court issues its decision in the Mississippi abortion ban case, that will forever alter the shape of abortion access in the U.S.
These bans will lead to more and more cases like Herrera’s. Her arrest is yet another warning bell — one we can’t afford to ignore.
