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.

    • FenrirIII@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Anti-abortion stances hurt minorities most. So, it’s surprising that Texas has one. The rate of teen mothers here is ridiculous though. Go out to a mall and you’ll find half a dozen within an hour.

      • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Not surprising when you realize pro birthers leadership doesn’t care about race as much as ensuring that there’s a poor, unhealthy (mentality and physically), and uneducated population to exploit. Ya they are racist but their wealthy donors like Walmart only make money by employing “lower classes” and their customers are that as well. The moment people stop having children in this late capitalist dystopia the whole system falls apart.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    hospital staff violated patient privacy rights when they reported the abortion

    Shouldn’t there be a HIPAA violation here? And Federal law trumps State law

    • sparr@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      There’s a HIPAA exception for actions that cause a person’s death. And, wrong as they may be, some of those people actually believe the fetus was a person.

  • Delusional@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Women should be able to leave the state to get away from any bullshit charges that fascists make up.

      • Cam@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        its advocates don’t respect anyone’s rights.

        You forgot about that unborn child rights. “Its avocates don’t respect anyone’s right”, give me a break.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Boy, these conservatives are really something, aren’t they? They’re all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn. But once you’re born, you’re on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don’t want to know about you. They don’t want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. If you’re preborn, you’re fine; if you’re preschool, you’re fucked.

          ~ George Carlin

    • Cam@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Yes, murderers should be able to leave and get away from their crimes.

  • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    They should put the total damages awarded as a result of lawsuits against incumbents along with the portion of those damages paid by every eligible voter by way of their taxes on the ballot next to the incumbent’s name. If people knew that hundreds or thousands of their tax dollars had gone to pay damages as a result of lawsuits they might be less likely to vote these assholes back into office.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Let the big back fire begin!

    By the time this settles Amazon is going to be selling abortion kits and training books with Catholic theme decals…and then Jesus inserts the scapula, now pray a little bit and rotate 360 degrees. And the republicans deserve it. Plus freeway billboards with ads to pornhub. Gay, pornhub. Imagine a guy’s face and his mouth pointing to the left of the sign with all of it pixelated from the mouth to the edge in varying levels of pink and brown.