Woman Sues Texas County For $1M After They Charged Her With Murder For Getting An Abortion

Woman Sues Texas County For $1M After They Charged Her With Murder For Getting An Abortion

A lady is suing the county and its top prosecutors after spending three days in a Texas jail in 2022 due to a false murder allegation that was levied against her for what the officials called a “self-induced abortion.”

When Lizelle Gonzalez, then 26 years old, took an abortion pill when she was 19 weeks pregnant in early 2022, she ended up visiting a hospital. A new lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Thursday claims that she had a Caesarean section to deliver the baby the following day when there was no longer a discernible fetal heartbeat.

At the time, Texas law prohibited abortions after six weeks and permitted legal action against anyone who performed or assisted in getting an abortion. However, state law shields women who choose to terminate their pregnancies from prosecution. Nevertheless, District Attorney Gocha Ramirez prosecuted Gonzalez with murder in April 2022, a move that garnered significant national attention to the isolated Starr County.

 

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Three days later, Ramirez chose to withdraw the accusation, and he has since been disciplined. However, Gonzalez’s court statement notes that the case “forever changed” her life and that her mug image became viral on the internet just hours after her arrest.

Ramirez, Starr County, and Assistant District Attorney Alexandria Barrera are all accused in the lawsuit of giving “false information and recklessly misrepresented facts” to seek the murder allegation.  Ramirez stated in a statement that the case’s concerns were “clearly contentious,

Ramirez moved to dismiss the murder charge three days after Gonzalez’s arrest. The day before, he also told her attorney that Gonzalez should never have been charged, The Washington Post.

Gonzalez’s filing requests damages, including for lost wages and mental anguish, which the document states exceed $1 million.