Democracy Dies in Darkness

Murder charges to be dropped for Texas woman arrested over abortion

The district attorney’s office overseeing the case said this was ‘not a criminal matter’

By
April 10, 2022 at 2:14 p.m. EDT
Protesters outside the Starr County jail on April 9, 2022, after Lizelle Herrera, 26, was charged with murder. (Jason Garza/Reuters)
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The district attorney’s office in a Texas border county said Sunday it intended to dismiss the case against Lizelle Herrera, a 26-year-old who was arrested on murder charges after what authorities said was a “self-induced abortion."

The case had confounded activists on both sides of the abortion debate because, although Texas has taken measures to restrict access to abortion, it was not clear which legal statute Herrera was alleged to have violated. Texas law also explicitly exempts a woman from a criminal homicide charge for aborting her pregnancy.