McAllen, TX: Prosecutors along the border between the United States and Mexico have been sued by a Texas woman who was arrested and charged with murder for allegedly self-managing an abortion. The woman spent two nights in jail before the case was dismissed.
Lizelle Gonzalez filed a complaint in federal court on Thursday, one month after the rural Starr County district attorney was punished and censured by the State Bar of Texas for her role in the 2022 murder case involving “the death of an individual by self-induced abortion.”
Women who seek abortions are not criminally charged under Texas’s and other states’ limitations on abortion.
Gonzalez is said to have been harmed by the arrest and the ensuing public attention, according to the lawsuit. She is requesting damages of $1 million.
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The lawsuit claimed that the plaintiff’s life had been irrevocably altered by the fallout from the defendants’ unlawful and unconstitutional acts.
Gocha Ramirez, the district attorney for Starr County, stated on Friday that he had not yet received the case and he would not comment. Eloy Vera, the chief elected official of Starr County, similarly refrained from commenting.
The lawsuit claims that Gonzalez used misoprostol, one of the two medications used in medication abortions when she was 19 weeks pregnant. Stomach ulcers can also be treated with misoprostol.
Gonzalez took the medication, went to the hospital emergency room for an obstetrical evaluation, and was sent home with a stomach ache. The following day, she came back bleeding, and an examination revealed no fetal heartbeat. A stillborn infant was delivered by a caesarian section by doctors.
The district attorney’s office was notified of the abortion by the hospital, which is alleged to have violated the patient’s right to privacy. The office conducted its own investigation and charged Gonzalez with murder.
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Gonzalez’s attorney, Cecilia Garza, claimed that even though the prosecution was aware that the state protects the lady having the abortion from being charged with murder, they nonetheless went ahead and filed an indictment.
Days after the woman’s detention, Ramirez declared the charges would be dropped; but, not before she had spent two nights in jail and been specifically named as a murder suspect.
In a settlement with the State Bar of Texas in February, Ramirez consented to pay a $1,250 fine and have his license suspended for a period of 12 months. At the time, he admitted to The Associated Press that he “made a mistake” and accepted the punishment since it would keep his office open and let him continue filing lawsuits.