Authorities say a 26-year-old woman has been charged with murder in Texas after she caused “the death of an individual by self-induced abortion.”
RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas — A 26-year-old woman has been charged with murder in Texas after authorities said she caused “the death of an individual by self-induced abortion,” in a state that has the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S.
It’s unclear whether Lizelle Herrera is accused of having an abortion or whether she helped someone else get an abortion.
Herrera was arrested Thursday and remained jailed Saturday on a $500,000 bond in the Starr County jail in Rio Grande City, on the U.S.-Mexico border, sheriff’s Maj. Carlos Delgado said in a statement.
“Herrera was arrested and served with an indictment on the charge of Murder after Herrera did then and there intentionally and knowingly cause the death of an individual by self-induced abortion,” Delgado said in the statement.
Delgado did not say under which law Herrera has been charged. He said no other information will be released until at least Monday because the case remains under investigation.
A 2021 state law that bans abortions in Texas for women who are as early as six weeks pregnant has sharply curtailed the number of abortions in the state. The law leaves enforcement to private citizens who can sue doctors or anyone who helps a woman get an abortion. The woman receiving the abortion can not be sued under the law.
Another Texas law prohibits doctors and clinics from prescribing abortion-inducing medications after the seventh week of pregnancy and prohibits delivery of the pills by mail.