A woman who was arrested in 2022 over her attempted abortion is now suing the Starr County District Attorney and seeking more than $1 million in damages.
According to the suit, shared by Courthouse News Service, Lizelle Gonzalez was 26 years old and 19 weeks pregnant when she used “Cytotec Icetrogen 400 mcg purportedly to induce an abortion,” and went to Starr County Memorial Hospital on Jan. 7, 2022. Though she was discharged at midnight on Jan. 8, she returned shortly after via EMS.
“Examination in the emergency department by revealed no fetal cardiac activity and ‘incomplete spontaneous abortion.’ Plaintiff was admitted to obstetrics for a repeat classical cesarean section by Dr. Luis Ramirez for the delivery of her stillborn child,” said the suit.
At the same time, employees of the hospital reported the “self-induced abortion” to the DA’s office, “in violation of federal privacy laws,” it continued. District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez and Assistant District Attorney Alexandria Lynn Barrera presented murder charges against Gonzalez on March 30, 2022. She was arrested on April 7, 2022 and released after spending three days in jail “when Defendant Ramirez made the decision to dismiss the unfounded charges against her.”
Shortly after the arrest and release, Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia said that Gonzalez “should have never been arrested in the first place,” and said the arrest “was an unjust and terrifying scare tactic.”
Ramirez has been suspended from practicing law for one year and fined $1,250 after an investigation into his conduct surrounding this case. According to Courthouse News Service, the Texas Bar found he had allowed assistant district attorneys to prosecute Gonzalez for “acts clearly not criminal” under Texas law.
A few months prior to Gonzalez’ medical emergency, Texas passed Senate Bill 8, or SB8, “which banned abortions as early as five weeks after the start of a patient’s last menstrual cycle,” according to Johns Hopkins University. This measure effectively banned abortion in the state. Before it was passed, abortions up to 22 weeks gestation were permitted. Per USA Today, it also allows private parties to sue anyone for “aiding and abetting” an abortion, but bars mothers from being charged for murder in the death of their own unborn child.
While the charges against Gonzalez were eventually dropped, her attorneys argue that the actions of the DA’s office forever changed her life.
“Plaintiff’s mugshot was immediately plastered all over the news, through television, print and social media,” said the suit, which also noted that coverage “can still be found through numerous news sites on the internet.”
During a press conference Tuesday, Gonzalez’ attorney Cecilia Garza said that her client was “prosecuted, and she was persecuted by the District Attorney of Starr County, his assistant, and the County of Starr.”
According to USA Today, “Ramirez and Barrera did not return requests by phone and email for comment on the lawsuit.”
