‘FOREVER CHANGED’

Texas Woman Jailed for Self-Induced Abortion Sues Local District Attorney

Lizelle Gonzalez says the “humiliation of a highly publicized indictment” has “permanently affected her standing in the community.”

The Texas woman who was arrested on murder charges and spent two nights in jail after taking an abortion-inducing drug is suing the local district attorney in federal court for more than $1 million, alleging that the Starr County prosecutor and her assistant misled the 2022 grand jury in her case. Lizelle Gonzalez claims in the lawsuit, first reported by The Texas Tribune, that the “humiliation of a highly publicized indictment and arrest” has “permanently affected her standing in the community.” The indictment came prior to the full overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court in 2022, though Texas at the time did have a near-total ban on abortion. Starr County DA Gocha Allen Ramirez eventually dropped the charges a few days after they were filed—and was later disciplined by the state bar association for bringing them at all. Ramirez has since paid a $1,250 fine, and his law license is being held in probated suspension for a year.