The Daily Populous Thursday July 25th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by WhileFalseRepeat

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A Texas woman who was jailed and charged with murder after self-managing an abortion in 2022 can move forward with her lawsuit against the local sheriff and prosecutors over the case that drew national outrage before the charges were quickly dropped, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton denied a motion by prosecutors and the sheriff to dismiss the lawsuit during a hearing in the border city of McAllen. Lizelle Gonzalez, who spent two nights in jail on the murder charges and is seeking $1 million in damages in the lawsuit, did not attend the hearing.

Texas has one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans and outlaws the procedure with limited exceptions. Under Texas law, women seeking an abortion are exempt from criminal charges, however.

Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez and other defendants have argued their positions provide them immunity from civil lawsuits.

Rick Navarro, an attorney for the defense, argued that it was “at worst a negligence case” during the hearing. Ramirez has previously told The Associated Press that he “made a mistake” in bringing charges.

Tipton asked Gonzalez’s attorneys whether they could prove the prosecutors knew of the exception.

“What we intend to show is that negligence doesn’t explain this oversight. It is the role and function of prosecutors to be aware of the elements of the statutes that they are charging,” said David Donatti, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas who is representing Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was indicted in 2022 after she took the drug misoprostol while 19 weeks pregnant. She was treated at a Texas hospital, where doctors later performed a caesarian section to deliver a stillborn child after they detected no fetal heartbeat.

Her lawsuit filed in March also named the county, which runs the small hospital where Gonzalez was treated, claiming that hospital staff violated patient privacy rights when they reported the abortion. An amended complaint alleged that the sheriff’s office interviewed Gonzalez and arrested her later under direction from the prosecutors.

The charges were dropped just days after the woman’s arrest. In February, Ramirez agreed to pay a $1,250 fine under a settlement reached with the State Bar of Texas. Ramirez also agreed to have his license held in a probated suspension for 12 months.

Wednesday’s decision will allow the case to move forward.

myleftone on July 25th, 2024 at 10:41 UTC »

The ink was barely dry on the new law that “wasn’t supposed to involve law enforcement” and “wasn’t supposed to directly impact the mother” when this happened. These were the criteria that helped the law pass muster with the supremes.

It underscores the lie about the anti abortion movement: it was always about punishing women, not saving lives.

SubstantialPressure3 on July 25th, 2024 at 04:03 UTC »

Her lawsuit filed in March also named the county, which runs the small hospital where Gonzalez was treated, claiming that hospital staff violated patient privacy rights when they reported the abortion. An amended complaint alleged that the sheriff’s office interviewed Gonzalez and arrested her later under direction from the prosecutors.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-abortion-law-bounty-hunters-citizens/

That financial incentive was singled out by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent late Wednesday after the Supreme Court declined to block the controversial law. In effect, Texas lawmakers have "deputized the state's citizens as bounty hunters, offering them cash prizes for civilly prosecuting their neighbors' medical procedures," she wrote

Someone on the medical staff broke HIPAA for the $10,000.

They literally took her from the hospital to jail. She could have died.

Msjudgedafart on July 25th, 2024 at 02:10 UTC »

I hope this becomes bigger fucking news so everyone can see what kind of money wasting, freedom castrating society they are pushing for.