On top of all that, it turns out the policeman was *also* an abuser!
Image: The founders of 404 Media
Back in May, 404 Media published a bombshell report: Texas police tried to track down an abortion patient using an automatic license plate reader (ALPR), accessing more than 83,000 cameras across the country. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office told reporters this wasn’t a criminal investigation but a missing person case, claiming the search “was about her safety”.
To no one’s surprise, they were full of shit: New reporting from 404 Media and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) confirms that police were trying to locate this woman with the goal of prosecuting her, after opening a “death investigation” into her abortion. After journalists took notice, the police tried to cover their tracks.
Perhaps worst of all, this investigation was prompted by the woman’s abusive partner—a man who threatened her at gunpoint before turning her in to police over her abortion. Johnson County Sheriff Adam King told reporters, “Her family was worried that she was going to bleed to death, and we were trying to find her to get her to a hospital.” But an incident report and affidavit show the case was a “death investigation” for a “non-viable fetus”. The abortion had also taken place two weeks earlier, making it unlikely that they were concerned about her immediate health or safety.
This is the predictable outcome of living in a reproductive police state bent on surveillance and punishment. Last week, Pregnancy Justice reported that there have been over 400 pregnancy-related arrests in the first two years after Dobbs.
Police tell lies, especially about pregnancy-related arrests. What happened in Texas is just the latest example of why no one should uncritically take law enforcement at their word, certainly on cases involving pregnancy. Yet, all too often, that’s exactly what mainstream media does: We’ve seen it happen in cases like the one in South Carolina—where reporters claimed a woman used a “plastic bag to dump [her] stillborn baby.” The truth? She was arrested after miscarrying. We’ve seen it happen when major media outlets claimed a Nebraska teen jailed for her abortion said she “can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body”—words that actually came from a police officer.
As more women are arrested, it is vital that media outlets and the general public understand that there is a huge difference between what police say and what actually happened.
Abortion surveillance and bans are a tool of abusers. This case reached the attention of law enforcement because a woman’s vindictive, controlling partner tipped off police. That same man was later convicted for assaulting her. He hit her on the head with the butt of a gun, choked her, put the gun to her head, and demanded she “beg for [her] life.” Then he attempted to weaponize Texas abortion laws to further torture her.
What’s more, Sheriff Adam King himself was later arrested and indicted on multiple counts of sexual harassment. That’s right: In August, the cop in charge of this case turned himself in over charges related to sexual misconduct and retaliation against his victims. He is accused of “unwelcome sexual advances” and pressuring his female employees to undress in front of him.
SOURCES: https://www.404media.co/about. Abortion, Every Day, by Jessica Valenti, Kylie Cheung. Jessica.Substack.com. 7 October 2025.