Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales joined four other elected District Attorneys who elect not to use the criminal justice system to prosecute Texans for personal health care decisions.
The District Attorneys stand with Starr County District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez who dismissed a murder charge against Lizelle Herrera, a woman who spent three days in jail after she was indicted for her apparent decision to end her pregnancy. While a Texas law that went into effect in September prohibits abortions after six weeks, it is a civil matter not a criminal one.
“No woman should be punished for making a personal medical decision. No health care provider should feel a responsibility to report these women seeking care to law enforcement. In this case, a dismissal was the right thing to do but she should not have been subjected to being arrested and incarcerated for exercising her very personal health care decision in the first place. A pregnant woman seeking medical care should only be concerned with getting proper health care, not an unlawful arrest. Every woman should know that there is no law in Texas that makes abortion a crime,” said Gonzales.
To read the full text of the statement by District Attorneys Gonzales, John Creuzot (Dallas County), José Garza (Travis County), Mark Gonzalez (Nueces County) and Brian Middleton (Fort Bend), click here.