{"id":316274,"date":"2024-07-27T15:39:12","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T20:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=316274"},"modified":"2024-07-26T16:41:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-26T21:41:40","slug":"judge-lawsuit-texas-woman-aborted-19-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/judge-lawsuit-texas-woman-aborted-19-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge allows lawsuit from Texas woman arrested for DIY abortion at 19 weeks to proceed"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A federal judge in Texas has denied<\/a> a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Starr County officials by a woman who was arrested in 2022 for a self-induced abortion at 19 weeks. The case is particularly unusual, because Texas state law in place at the time (the\u00a0Texas Heartbeat Act -SB 8<\/a>) protected preborn children from abortion upon detectable heartbeat (usually about six weeks) but specifically excluded<\/strong><\/em> women from being prosecuted for their own abortions.<\/p>\n

Shortly before Roe v. Wade<\/em> was overturned in 2022, Lizelle Gonzalez \u2014 then Lizelle Herrera \u2014 allegedly went to the hospital for care where she admitted<\/a> she had tried to induce an abortion. Gonzalez had taken the drug misoprostol, which causes contractions, while she was 19 weeks pregnant. Doctors at a Texas hospital had to later carry out a C-section to deliver her dead baby.<\/p>\n

According to Reuters, hospital staff reported her to the authorities. She was arrested, spent two days in jail, and was indicted for causing “the death of an individual … by self-induced abortion.”<\/p>\n

READ: If \u2018abortion up to birth\u2019 isn\u2019t \u2018a thing,\u2019 why is it legal in 9 states plus DC?<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gonzalez later sued Starr County officials for $1 million, saying the experience changed her life forever and alleging that county officials misrepresented facts to a grand jury and conspired to prosecute her without probable cause. Starr County District Attorney Gocha A. Ramirez previously told The Associated Press that he “made a mistake” in bringing charges against Gonzalez. He ultimately paid a $1,250 fine under a settlement reached with the State Bar of Texas and agreed to have his license suspended for a year.<\/p>\n

According to Texas Public Radio<\/a>, Ramirez and Assistant District Attorney Alexandria Lynn Barrera filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit in May, citing the “immunity doctrine<\/a>,” which offers protection to public officials from legal fallout \u2014 with exceptions. Attorneys for Gonzalez, however, argue that immunity can’t be granted in this case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be doing some discovery on the question of the immunity claims that the defendants have raised as to the DA\u2019s and prosecutor\u2019s claim that they are not liable,\u201d said Lauren Johnson, director of the Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is representing Gonzalez. \u201cOur goal is to continue this fight to the point of trial.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge in Texas has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Starr County officials by a woman who was arrested in 2022 for a self-induced abortion at 19 weeks. The case is particularly unusual, because Texas state law in place at the time (the\u00a0Texas Heartbeat Act -SB 8) protected preborn children from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":252796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJudge allows lawsuit from Texas woman arrested for DIY abortion at 19 weeks to proceed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A federal judge in Texas has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against officials by a woman who was arrested for a 19-week self-abortion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/judge-lawsuit-texas-woman-aborted-19-weeks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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