Herrera’s case was stunning however predictable. She is a lady of coloration who was criminalized for an alleged self-managed abortion in an overwhelmingly Latinx space of Texas that’s disproportionately affected by the state’s anti-abortion legal guidelines. And—in step with analysis carried out by the authorized advocacy group If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice—Herrera’s case is an element of a bigger sample. Marginalized communities below state surveillance and subjected to over-policing are the identical communities most definitely to be criminalized for being pregnant outcomes, together with Black, Indigenous, and different individuals of coloration, disabled individuals, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
As Prism previously reported, abortion stigma will increase in the case of self-managed abortion, and so does criminalization—especially for people of color. The general public particulars of Herrera’s story appeared to have the entire hallmarks of a case that will drag out for months, if not years—and advocates who spoke to Prism mentioned they have been making ready for the worst.
When the information of Herrera’s case got here to gentle, organizers started discussing potential protests exterior of courtroom hearings. They have been considering by way of a public marketing campaign to assist Herrera in getting her prices dropped. The Frontera Fund, a Rio Grande Valley (RGV)-based abortion fund, shortly mobilized in Herrera’s protection. The group organized a protest on the Starr County Jail on the morning of April 9 and urged individuals to name and demand Herrera’s launch. Nevertheless, Herrera’s case moved at breakneck pace.
By the afternoon of April 9, If/When/How’s Repro Authorized Protection Fund paid Herrera’s bail, and she or he was launched to her household. On April 10, the Starr County District Lawyer, Gocha Ramirez, issued a press release stating that Herrera’s arrest was improper. On April 11, he filed a petition to drop the costs. On April 12, 5 Texas district attorneys issued a statement supporting Ramirez’s resolution to drop the homicide cost towards Herrera whereas additionally condemning the state’s effort to criminalize abortion. In a panorama the place you’ll be able to doubtlessly be charged with homicide for allegedly ending a being pregnant, the end result of Herrera’s criminalization was not anticipated.
Herrera has not made any public feedback relating to her story, and the occasions that led to her criminalization are nonetheless murky. What is evident is that misconceptions, misunderstandings, and misinformation have surrounded Herrera’s case. To assist set the report straight, Prism spoke to the Texas director for coverage and advocacy on the Nationwide Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, Nancy Cárdenas Peña; If/When/How senior counsel and authorized director, Farah Diaz-Tello; and the Frontera Fund’s Rockie Gonzalez and Zaena Zamora, who offered insights throughout an April 13 press convention.
Cultural context
Early reporting on Herrera’s case, particularly in Spanish language media, talked about that she might have obtained abortion medicine in Mexico. Whereas this stays unverified by Herrera and her legal professional, advocates say it’s price unpacking.
Throughout a Frontera Fund press convention, government director Zamora defined that whereas it’s important to grasp how abortion restrictions differ from state to state, it’s additionally vital to grasp how varied communities navigate these restrictions—particularly in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley (RGV).
The RGV spans 4 totally different counties and is residence to greater than 1,000,000 individuals, a third of whom stay under the federal poverty degree and don’t have medical health insurance. Accessing reproductive well being care on this area has by no means been straightforward, and for the area’s sizeable undocumented inhabitants, it could additionally include elevated danger of criminalization. The closest clinic providing abortion care is Complete Lady’s Well being, situated on the southern tip of the RGV in McAllen, Texas. Not solely does this imply that undocumented immigrants might face Border Patrol checkpoints, however the McAllen clinic can be closely policed due to the anti-choice protestors who harangue and surveil these looking for care.
Abortion care can be very costly in Texas, particularly within the RGV the place the beginning price for abortion medicine is round $800, Zamora defined. In Mexico, the identical medicine prices lower than $100. For these in border communities who’re in a position to go to Mexico to entry well being care, price is a main motivating issue.
“It’s culturally regular within the Rio Grande Valley to get your well being care in Mexico,” mentioned Gonzales, the Frontera Fund’s founder. “Rising up right here, we didn’t go to American dentists or medical doctors. What we do is go to Mexico as a result of it’s fast and since it’s low cost and since it’s good well being care. We have now all grown up that method. It’s very regular.”
Gonzalez expressed that it was troublesome to listen to how the media sensationalized the chance that Herrera might have gone to Mexico to entry abortion medicine, as if it’s one thing “scandalous.”
“We wish to pull individuals away from sensationalizing this, like [it’s some] horrible trek to enter Mexico to get this care behind darkish alleys. No, it’s a part of Sunday brunch to go to the pharmacy and get [medications] that you would be able to’t purchase over-the-counter right here,” Gonzalez mentioned.
The truth that it was a Latina from the RGV who was charged with homicide and held on a half-a-million-dollar bond for allegedly self-managing didn’t come as a lot of a shock to any of the reproductive justice advocates who spoke to Prism.
“We’ve been saying for the reason that onset, each time you cross any sort of abortion restriction, it’s going to have an effect on—at first—low-income individuals, individuals of coloration, and folks [from] marginalized communities,” Zamora mentioned.
If we take critically the concept that individuals ought to be free to make autonomous selections about their reproductive lives, that has to incorporate freedom from state management.
Farah Diaz-Tello
And this definitely isn’t the primary time {that a} Latina within the state has been criminalized for accessing care. In 2015, the arrest of Blanca Borrego had a chilling impact on immigrants looking for well being care. The undocumented mom went to the Northeast Girls’s Healthcare Clinic in Atascocita, Texas, for an appointment together with her gynecologist. She allegedly introduced clinic employees with a false I.D., and a employees member referred to as the sheriff’s division. Sheriff’s deputies positioned Borrego in handcuffs and arrested her in entrance of her youngsters.
Tragic tales involving Latinas aren’t unusual inside the reproductive well being, rights, and justice actions—together with the story of Rosie Jimenez. The 27-year-old single mom from McAllen died in 1977 due to issues from an unlawful abortion. She was the primary recognized lady to die due to the Hyde Modification.
Hyde, which continues to be in place right this moment, eliminates federal Medicaid funding for abortion. So whereas abortion was authorized in 1977, the Hyde Modification pushed low-income individuals like Jimenez to hunt out cheaper choices due to the shortcoming to make use of federally sponsored insurance coverage for abortion care. As Alexa Garcia-Ditta wrote for The Texas Observer, Jimenez’s demise stays “a strong reminder of what occurs when abortion turns into inaccessible.” The hospital the place Jiminez died is now the positioning of McAllen Metropolis Corridor. Positioned throughout the road is Complete Lady’s Well being, the one abortion clinic serving the Rio Grande Valley.
Classes discovered
When it was nonetheless unclear what triggered Herrera’s criminalization and the course her case would go in, there was plenty of chatter on social media concerning the want for abortion funds to work carefully with bail funds and the way the reproductive rights motion ought to be part of the motion to defund the police. The idea appeared to be that this sort of cross-movement work isn’t already occurring.
Organizations like If/When/How function on the intersection of reproductive justice and prison justice. Extra broadly, the reproductive justice motion was shaped by Black women who acknowledged that the mainstream reproductive rights motion, which continues to be led by center class and prosperous white girls, couldn’t defend the wants of individuals of coloration and different marginalized individuals. Advocates on this motion have been clear that lowering incarceration is a matter of reproductive justice.
Cárdenas Peña mentioned extra cross-movement work could possibly be occurring, however this work requires time—and that may be laborious to come back by in a state like Texas, the place immigrant communities and abortion entry are below fixed assault.
“I’ll simply be actually trustworthy with you, I believe we’re struggling to satisfy the calls for of the atmosphere right here in Texas the place issues really feel like they’re on hearth each single day,” she mentioned. “However we wish individuals to know that we’re invested on this combat and we’re going to provide it every little thing we’ve received.”
Even when individuals weren’t being criminalized for having abortions, criminalization, detention, deportation, and incarceration are nonetheless reproductive justice points as a result of they take away individuals from their communities, destroy households, and destroy individuals’s means to make selections about their our bodies and their households, Diaz-Tello defined.
“If we take critically the concept that individuals ought to be free to make autonomous selections about their reproductive lives, that has to incorporate freedom from state management,” the legal professional mentioned.
Gonzalez issued the reminder that the Frontera Fund works on the intersections of prison justice, reproductive justice, and immigrant justice, and with out cross-movement organizing and relationships, it could have been not possible to offer a fast response to Herrera’s criminalization. This was echoed by Cárdenas Peña, who mentioned that failing to work in cross-movement collaborations isn’t an possibility for reproductive justice advocates in Texas.
As teams within the Rio Grande Valley scrambled to Herrera’s protection after her arrest was made public, a few of the strongest and well-funded nationwide reproductive rights organizations have been silent concerning the state of affairs unfolding in Texas. Reproductive justice advocates who spoke to Prism mentioned that silence was disappointing, but additionally anticipated. Tensions have lengthy existed between giant reproductive rights organizations and smaller teams doing work on the bottom. Cárdenas Peña mentioned it’s her guess that nationwide reproductive rights organizations have been ready for extra details about Herrera’s case to be launched earlier than deciding to publicly remark—and that’s a luxurious grassroots teams within the RGV can’t afford.
Whereas she acknowledged that organizers within the RGV can really feel protecting of their work and cautious of outsiders, Cárdenas Peña mentioned it’s for good motive. There’s a lengthy historical past of individuals coming into the RGV, fundraising off of the RGV, bringing some actions, after which leaving—and organizers within the state have been left having to ship on the guarantees that have been made to their group members.
Nonetheless, she mentioned it’s in everybody’s greatest curiosity to work collaboratively throughout actions and amongst native, state, and nationwide organizations.
“The RGV could be very small and really mighty, however some assist would undoubtedly take plenty of work off our backs,” Cárdenas Peña mentioned. “Lizelle isn’t the primary case like this, and she or he gained’t be the final. As we proceed to speak about this sort of criminalization, RGV voices need to be on the middle and on the forefront of those conversations.”
Based mostly on reviews, Lizelle Herrera was criminalized partially as a result of a well being care supplier wrongly reported her to regulation enforcement for self-managed abortion. Prism spoke with a Texas-based abortion care supplier and advocates who shared how widespread confusion about reporting necessities and abortion legal guidelines can flip medical doctors into brokers of the state, and what’s wanted to fight the harmful misinformation on this area. Read more about reporting requirements and the criminalization of abortion here.
Tina Vásquez is a contributing author at Prism. She covers gender justice, employees’ rights, and immigration. Comply with her on Twitter @TheTinaVasquez.
Prism is a BIPOC-led nonprofit information outlet that facilities the individuals, locations, and points at the moment underreported by nationwide media. We’re dedicated to producing the form of journalism that treats Black, Indigenous, and folks of coloration, girls, the LGBTQ+ group, and different invisibilized teams because the specialists on our personal lived experiences, our resilience, and our fights for justice. Sign up for our email list to get our tales in your inbox, and observe us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
