A Texas woman who was arrested and charged with murder on Thursday after authorities learned she performed a “self-induced abortion,” has been released.
Lizelle Herrera, 26, was taken into the custody of the Starr County Sheriff’s Office in Rio Grande City, on the U.S.-Mexico border, and was held on a $500,000 bond.
On Saturday, the sheriff’s office said a local bondsman posted the bond for Herrera. She is scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to a local outlet.
Police say Herrera “intentionally and knowingly cause the death of an individual by self-induced abortion.” It’s unclear whether she is accused of having an abortion or whether she helped someone else get an abortion. It is also not clear how far along into the pregnancy Herrera or the person she helped was at the time of the procedure.
Also unclear is under what law Herrera has been charged.
University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck told The Associated Press that Texas law exempts her from a criminal homicide charge for aborting her own pregnancy.
“(Homicide) doesn’t apply to the murder of an unborn child if the conduct charged is ‘conduct committed by the mother of the unborn child,'” Vladeck said.
Sheriff’s Maj. Carlos Delgado said no other information will be released until at least Monday because the case remains under investigation, the AP reports.
La Frontera Fund, an abortion assistance fund based in the Rio Grande Valley, protested on Saturday morning outside the Starr County Jail, demanding Herrera’s immediate release.
“We are just raising awareness about this issue and letting Starr County Jail know that we are demanding an immediate release of Lizelle Herrera,” the group’s organizing manager Cathy Torres said. “She’s being criminalized because of her pregnancy outcomes, and that’s just not right.”
This comes months after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed into law one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. It bans the procedure after 6 weeks of pregnancy. Most women don’t know they’re pregnant at that point.
Another law prohibits doctors and clinics from prescribing abortion-inducing medications after 7 weeks of pregnancy and prohibits delivery of the pills by mail.
