When Your Home State Also Becomes Your Abuser

Gabriela Gonzalez had been dating her abusive boyfriend, Harold Thompson, for four months in the spring of 2023 when she got pregnant.

Police records show that Thompson had physically abused Gonzalez several times throughout their relationship, including when she was pregnant. Thompson strangled Gonzalez and “recklessly caused bodily injury” in a December 2022 incident, according to court records. She told her family she wanted to leave him, but she was terrified.

“He was so angry that she wanted to get away from him,” Mileny Rubio, Gonzalez’s sister, told a local Dallas outlet . “She would always tell me that she wanted to leave, but that she couldn’t.”

Gonzalez knew she couldn’t continue the pregnancy because she did not want to be tied to her abuser for the rest of her life. But she lived in Dallas, Texas, where by last spring, abortion had been banned for nearly a year. So she drove to Colorado ― at least an 18-hour journey there and back ― to get an abortion.

The day after Gonzalez returned, Thompson found out about the abortion and confronted her in a gas station parking lot. Surveillance video, described in a police report, shows Thompson put Gonzalez in a chokehold before she was able to shrug him off. That’s when Thompson pulled out a gun and shot Gonzalez in the head. The video shows Thompson firing several more bullets into Gonzalez’s body before fleeing. He was charged with murder and is awaiting trial.

Gonzalez, like so many other domestic violence victims in Texas, faced an increased risk of violence from her abusive partner and a higher likelihood he would kill her because of the state’s decision to loosen gun laws and completely restrict access to abortion. Her story reflects the three systemic crises