A Texas man has been accused of poisoning his pregnant wife in order to forcibly abort the baby that she was carrying.
Mason Herring, 38, a Houston attorney, was indicted by a Harris County grand jury last Thursday on two felony charges of assault of a pregnant person and assault to force an abortion.
Back in March, the man allegedly snuck Misoprostol, a drug used to induce medical abortions, into his pregnant wife’s beverages, attempting to force her to abort the baby she was carrying, stated authorities. She has not been named.
After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Texas had trigger laws set in place that make it a felony to knowingly attempt, perform, or induce an abortion, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The husband and wife had been married for 11 years when the wife alleged that he was poisoning her. Authorities claimed that Herring was unhappy with the pregnancy when he found out about it in February.
Shortly after finding out about the pregnancy, the couple, who had separated earlier in 2022, went on a trip together to West Texas in March. According to the wife, the husband allegedly insisted she drink plenty of water.
This attitude progressed until he gave her a full cup of water one morning and reportedly told her that he would not leave until she had finished it. It was on this occasion that, according to officials, the wife noticed that the water was cloudy. Shortly after, she started feeling very sick, experiencing cramps, diarrhea, and heavy bleeding.
She went to an emergency room, but the bleeding continued that night. The excessive offering of beverages continued for a month.
After she first noticed the “cloudy” cup, she did not drink anything else that he gave her.
In April, she had cameras installed outside the house and noticed that her husband was taking the trash out and cleaning his truck. The woman said that “this was out of character … as he does not do chores around the house.”
She found the drugs he was allegedly used on her when she checked the trash. She reportedly discovered opened packs of Cyrux, which is a version of the drug Cytotec that contains Misoprostol.
Following this incident, she observed him pouring the contents of a plastic bag into her drink. The woman saved six water samples for authorities to test, later confirming that at least two of them contained the abortive drug. It is not clear how Herring obtained the prescription drug.
KTRK reported that the baby was born prematurely but is now healthy and doing well.
Herring is the first person in Harris County to be charged with assault to force an abortion. The statute carries a sentence of two to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Herring is out on a $30,000 bond, and his court date is scheduled for December 2.