We Are at a Tipping Point on Women's Rights in this Country

A Texas district attorney has reversed course and moved to dismiss a murder charge against a woman who authorities allege performed a “self-induced abortion.”  Starr County District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez released a statement saying that 26-year-old Lizelle Herrera “cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her.”

The unexpected development came on the heels of shocking news that the unfortunate woman had previously been arrested and charged with murder-- even being forced to post $500K in bail after spending two nights in jail.  The arrest represented a further chilling crackdown on women in Texas and a disturbing challenge to the inviolability of an individual’s own body.  It was initially unclear how the arrest even passed muster with the judge.  While it's true that the law (signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott) prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity (which is usually around six weeks and before many women know they’re pregnant)-- it specifically prohibits state officials from enforcing the ban. Instead, the law lays out an enforcement mechanism via the civil court process (as opposed to the criminal system).  Instead, the law allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone else who helps someone get an abortion. Whether this disconnect led to the dropping of the charges is still unknown.  

While women's rights faces a heightened threat in Texas, there was a sliver of good news from Maryland.  Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of a measure to expand access to abortion in Maryland was overridden by the General Assembly.  As a result of the override, the state will finally end a restriction that only physicians can provide abortions. The new law will enable nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and physician assistants to provide them with training. It creates an abortion care training program and requires $3.5 million in state funding annually. It also requires most insurance plans to cover abortions without cost.  The measure comes at a time when the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that banned states from outlawing abortion.

 

The new Maryland measure is modernizing the choice the state’s voters made in 1992, when they approved the right to abortion in a statewide vote with 62% of voters supporting it.  According to the bill's sponsor, House Speaker Adrienne Jones, “It is making sure that people have access to care, particularly people of color, particularly low-income people, particularly rural people.  We know that physician-only restrictions exacerbate health inequalities, and we are trying to reduce health inequalities in the state of Maryland with this bill.”