A woman who spent three days in a Texas jail in 2022 after a murder charge was wrongly brought against her for what officials described as a “self-induced abortion” is suing the county and its top prosecutors.
Lizelle Gonzalez, then 26, had gone to a hospital in early 2022 after taking an abortion pill while 19 weeks pregnant. The next day, when no fetal heartbeat was detected, she underwent a Caesarean section to deliver, according to a new lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Texas law at the time banned abortions after six weeks and allowed anyone to sue a person for performing or helping someone get the procedure. But state law also exempts women from facing criminal charges for aborting pregnancies.
Still, in a move that drove intense national attention to the remote Starr County, District Attorney Gocha Ramirez (D) in April 2022 charged Gonzalez with murder. Ramirez decided to drop the charge three days later and has since faced disciplinary action, but the case “forever changed” Gonzalez’s life, her court filing states, noting that her mug shot surfaced online within hours of her arrest.
The lawsuit accuses Starr County, Ramirez and Alexandria Barrera, an assistant district attorney, of providing “false information and recklessly misrepresented facts” to pursue the murder charge.
Ramirez and Barrera did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday evening and attempts to reach Starr County’s attorney were unsuccessful. Ramirez, when announcing the decision to clear the charge in April 2022, said in a statement that the issues surrounding the case were “clearly contentious, however based on Texas law and the facts presented, it is not a criminal matter,” adding that “it is clear to me that the events leading up to this indictment have taken a toll” on Gonzalez.
Gonzalez’s attorneys described the charge against her as a “flagrant violation” of her civil rights, adding in a statement that it “cannot be regarded as a mere ‘mistake.’” Gonzalez filed the lawsuit “not only to vindicate her rights but also to hold the government officials who violated them accountable,” the statement said.
When news of Gonzalez’s arrest broke in April 2022, abortion rights groups questioned the charge and raised concerns about other people in Texas seeking abortions at a time when many Republican-led states were moving to restrict the procedure in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s consideration of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that summer.
Officials offered few details on the case, including whether Gonzalez — then Lizelle Herrera — had an illegal abortion or had helped someone else get one.
Gonzalez went to a hospital in Starr County on Jan. 7, 2022, after using Cytotec, also known as misoprostol, “purportedly to induce an abortion,” according to the lawsuit. She was not having contractions and an exam found a fetal heart rate, the lawsuit states.
She was discharged the next day and was told to follow up in four days, the complaint states.
But 40 minutes after she was discharged, Gonzalez was rushed to the hospital with abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, according to the lawsuit. She was given another exam, which showed there was “no fetal cardiac activity” and she had undergone an “incomplete spontaneous abortion,” the document states. She then had a C-section.
Hospital staff later reported the “self-induced abortion” to Ramirez’s office, the lawsuit alleges. Ramirez had been serving as Starr County’s district attorney since January 2021.
On March 30, 2022, Ramirez and Barrera presented the murder charge to a grand jury, according to the lawsuit, and Gonzalez was arrested a week later “despite the plain and concise language” of the Texas law prohibiting criminal homicide charges against women who abort their pregnancies. The filing also alleges that neither the Starr County Sheriff’s Office nor the Rio Grande City Police Department investigated the case before Gonzalez was arrested. Neither agency responded to requests for comment Monday evening.
Gonzalez was taken to a hospital while she was in jail, according to the lawsuit. Cecilia Garza, an attorney for Gonzalez, told The Post on Monday that her client had experienced “anxiety as a result of the charge and arrest.”
Ramirez moved to dismiss the murder charge three days after Gonzalez’s arrest. The day before, he also told her attorney that she should never have been charged, The Washington Post previously reported. In a separate message to an acquaintance that was reviewed by The Post, Ramirez wrote: “I’m so sorry. I assure you I never meant to hurt this young lady.”
The State Bar of Texas recently concluded an investigation that found that Ramirez had supervised the criminal homicide charge being brought against “an individual for acts clearly not criminal.” Ramirez was fined $1,250 and given a one-year probated suspension that began on Monday. During that year, Ramirez can practice law if he complies with the terms of a January settlement with the state bar, the Associated Press reported.
Gonzalez’s lawsuit said that the arrest and charge against her “permanently affected her standing in the community.”
Her filing requests damages, including for lost wages and mental anguish, which the document states exceed $1 million.
Lizelle Gonzalez, then 26, had gone to a hospital in early 2022 after taking an abortion pill while 19 weeks pregnant. The next day, when no fetal heartbeat was detected, she underwent a Caesarean section to deliver, according to a new lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Texas law at the time banned abortions after six weeks and allowed anyone to sue a person for performing or helping someone get the procedure. But state law also exempts women from facing criminal charges for aborting pregnancies.
Still, in a move that drove intense national attention to the remote Starr County, District Attorney Gocha Ramirez (D) in April 2022 charged Gonzalez with murder. Ramirez decided to drop the charge three days later and has since faced disciplinary action, but the case “forever changed” Gonzalez’s life, her court filing states, noting that her mug shot surfaced online within hours of her arrest.
The lawsuit accuses Starr County, Ramirez and Alexandria Barrera, an assistant district attorney, of providing “false information and recklessly misrepresented facts” to pursue the murder charge.
Ramirez and Barrera did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday evening and attempts to reach Starr County’s attorney were unsuccessful. Ramirez, when announcing the decision to clear the charge in April 2022, said in a statement that the issues surrounding the case were “clearly contentious, however based on Texas law and the facts presented, it is not a criminal matter,” adding that “it is clear to me that the events leading up to this indictment have taken a toll” on Gonzalez.
Gonzalez’s attorneys described the charge against her as a “flagrant violation” of her civil rights, adding in a statement that it “cannot be regarded as a mere ‘mistake.’” Gonzalez filed the lawsuit “not only to vindicate her rights but also to hold the government officials who violated them accountable,” the statement said.
When news of Gonzalez’s arrest broke in April 2022, abortion rights groups questioned the charge and raised concerns about other people in Texas seeking abortions at a time when many Republican-led states were moving to restrict the procedure in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s consideration of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that summer.
Officials offered few details on the case, including whether Gonzalez — then Lizelle Herrera — had an illegal abortion or had helped someone else get one.
Gonzalez went to a hospital in Starr County on Jan. 7, 2022, after using Cytotec, also known as misoprostol, “purportedly to induce an abortion,” according to the lawsuit. She was not having contractions and an exam found a fetal heart rate, the lawsuit states.
She was discharged the next day and was told to follow up in four days, the complaint states.
But 40 minutes after she was discharged, Gonzalez was rushed to the hospital with abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, according to the lawsuit. She was given another exam, which showed there was “no fetal cardiac activity” and she had undergone an “incomplete spontaneous abortion,” the document states. She then had a C-section.
Hospital staff later reported the “self-induced abortion” to Ramirez’s office, the lawsuit alleges. Ramirez had been serving as Starr County’s district attorney since January 2021.
On March 30, 2022, Ramirez and Barrera presented the murder charge to a grand jury, according to the lawsuit, and Gonzalez was arrested a week later “despite the plain and concise language” of the Texas law prohibiting criminal homicide charges against women who abort their pregnancies. The filing also alleges that neither the Starr County Sheriff’s Office nor the Rio Grande City Police Department investigated the case before Gonzalez was arrested. Neither agency responded to requests for comment Monday evening.
Gonzalez was taken to a hospital while she was in jail, according to the lawsuit. Cecilia Garza, an attorney for Gonzalez, told The Post on Monday that her client had experienced “anxiety as a result of the charge and arrest.”
Ramirez moved to dismiss the murder charge three days after Gonzalez’s arrest. The day before, he also told her attorney that she should never have been charged, The Washington Post previously reported. In a separate message to an acquaintance that was reviewed by The Post, Ramirez wrote: “I’m so sorry. I assure you I never meant to hurt this young lady.”
The State Bar of Texas recently concluded an investigation that found that Ramirez had supervised the criminal homicide charge being brought against “an individual for acts clearly not criminal.” Ramirez was fined $1,250 and given a one-year probated suspension that began on Monday. During that year, Ramirez can practice law if he complies with the terms of a January settlement with the state bar, the Associated Press reported.
Gonzalez’s lawsuit said that the arrest and charge against her “permanently affected her standing in the community.”
Her filing requests damages, including for lost wages and mental anguish, which the document states exceed $1 million.
