Following the Supreme Court's abortion decision, Texans are going to need good information, legal help and courageous prosecutors willing to use their discretion to protect pregnant women and their health care providers, writes the Editorial Board.
Perhaps most pressingly, there remains a question of whether women themselves will face jail time over a decision to end their pregnancy. The trigger law appears to reserve prosecution for those who perform the abortions, and not women who have them. But what about when a woman chooses toEven before Roe was struck down, in April, a young woman in Starr County found herself in jail following an alleged self-managed abortion.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg immediately stressed the sanctity of the relationship between women and their doctors. “The criminalization of reproductive health will cause great harm to women in America; prosecutors and police have no role in matters between doctors and patients. As in every case, we will evaluate the facts and make decisions on a case-by-case basis.”
But across Texas, many women live in counties where prosecutors may see things very differently. That’s something that should worry all of us—particularly as some legislators“Nothing is beyond the prosecutorial imagination,” Diaz-Tello told us, “but it is our duty to hold them accountable to the law.”Everyone from pregnant women, lawyers, health care workers and others will need guidance moving forward.
Three key considerations are worth noting here. Women who self-manage their abortion with medication and later need medical care, need to know they don’t need to disclose that. And healthcare providers caring for women who have used such medication should know that they don’t have report them. And finally, lawyers and individuals need to know that if pregnant women are charged, those cases are well worth fighting.
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