Houston attorney Mason Herring pleaded guilty to two charges for spiking his then-wife's drinks with pills to induce abortion. Herring, 39, was charged with injury to a child and assault of a pregnant woman. He had initially been charged with felony assault to induce abortion.
Anti-abortion rights supporters take part in a "Rally for Life" march and celebration outside the Texas State Capitol on January 27, 2024, in Austin, Texas. This event commemorates the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that imposed legal abortion on Texas and the entire nation throughout all nine months of pregnancy and celebrates the overturning of the precedent set in 1973.
His wife, Catherine Herring, filed for divorce and argued to the court that the jail sentence was not long enough.
The Associated Press reported the couple's one-year-old daughter, their third child, was born about ten weeks premature, has developmental delays, and attends therapy eight times a week.
"I do not believe that 180 days is justice for attempting to kill your child seven separate times," Catherine Herring said.
Catherine Herring told authorities that her husband began lecturing her on hydration and constantly offering her water. She became severely ill in March 2022 after drinking from the first glass that appeared cloudy-looking. Mason Herring explained it away, saying that perhaps the glass or water pipes were dirty.
She immediately became suspicious and started to refuse any drink her husband would offer.
According to the AP, the wife found packaging for a drug that contains misoprostol, a medicine used to induce abortion, in their trash. She also supplied police with videos from hidden cameras she installed in her home. One of them shows him mixing a substance in her drinks.
What Does The Husband Have To Say?
Mason Herring's attorney, Dan Codgell, called the plea deal and sentence reasonable.
"It's a sad situation and Mason has accepted his responsibility," Cogdell said.
What Does The State of Texas Have To Say?
Texas has one of the nation's most restrictive abortion bills. Abortion in Texas is illegal in all cases, even with no exceptions for rape or incest. The law prohibits abortions if an ultrasound can detect what lawmakers define as a "fetal heartbeat."
A trigger law has been in effect since August 25, 2022, stating abortion is illegal except in cases to save the life of the mother.
Considering such strict laws against abortion in Texas, the court sentencing Mason Herring to 180 days in jail seems disproportionate. In April 2022, Texas woman Lizelle Herrera was charged with murder for allegedly inducing her abortion despite the lack of legal basis.
Herring's sentence also carries a 10-year probationary period.
