The first person charged with felony assault to induce abortion in Harris County, Texas, has struck a plea deal and has been sentenced with only six months (180 days) jail time and 10 years probation.
Mason Herring, a solo legal practitioner who practiced law in New Mexico and Texas, attempted several times to surreptitiously cause the death of his preborn child. He poisoned his wife’s water and sports drink with misoprostol, an agent often used to induce abortion. When his wife grew suspicious of the cloudy water, he persevered and encouraged her to “stay hydrated,” even refusing to leave until she finished his concoction.
According to a February 8, 2024 article by the New York Times, Herring “pleaded guilty to injury of a child and assault of a pregnant [woman] as part of a plea agreement.”
Catherine Herring, the suspect’s wife, became suspicious when her husband took out the trash. She stated in her complaint that it was “out of character for” him, because “he does not do chores around the house….” When she investigated what was in the trash, she found empty Cyrux packages in the bin.
According to the New York Times, “The main ingredient in Cyrux is misoprostol, which is used for abortions in some countries.” The United States is one of those countries and the abortion pill regimen (which consists of two drugs – mifepristone and misoprostol) accounts for over half of U.S. abortions, according to 2022 statistics. Misoprostol is the second drug in this regimen to complete a chemical abortion.
According to the Abortion Pill Reversal Network, “over 4,000 babies have been saved through abortion pill reversal” which consists of the administration of progesterone in an effort to out-compete the mechanism of mifepristone, the first drug in the abortion pill regimen. However, the abortion industry is hastily developing a “single drug” strategy to induce abortion in case mifepristone is restricted.
Remarkably, the Herrings’ daughter, Josephine, survived but was born prematurely and with developmental delays. She is 18 months old now, and experts predict her father will lose his law license for attempting to end her life while she was still in the womb.
“I do not believe that 180 days is justice for attempting to kill your child seven separate times,” Catherine Herring stated. She says she plans to use the experience of being pressured and drugged to cause an abortion to “support and advocate for victims of domestic violence.”
