A federal judge decided on Wednesday that a Texas woman who self-managed an abortion in 2022 and was briefly detained and charged with murder can proceed with her lawsuit against the local sheriff and prosecutors.
During a hearing in the border town of McAllen, US District Judge Drew B. Tipton refused prosecutors’ and the sheriff’s move to dismiss the complaint. Lizelle Gonzalez, who was jailed for two nights on murder accusations and is seeking $1 million in damages in the case, did not attend.
Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez and other defendants have maintained that their positions provide them immunity from civil litigation. During the hearing, Rick Navarro, an attorney for the defense, contended that it was “at worst a negligence case”.
“Negligence does not explain this oversight”, according to David Donatti, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas who is defending Gonzalez. “It is the role and function of prosecutors to be aware of the elements of the statutes that they are charging,” he added.
Gonzalez was charged in 2022 for using misoprostol when 19 weeks pregnant. She was treated at a Texas hospital, where physicians eventually performed a caesarian operation to deliver a stillborn baby after detecting no fetal heartbeat.
In a complaint filed last March, she also targeted the county, which administers the tiny hospital where Gonzalez was treated, saying that medical workers violated patient privacy rights by reporting the abortion.
Texas has one of the strictest abortion regulations in the country, making the practice illegal with few exceptions. However, women seeking abortions are largely free from criminal penalties under Texas law.
