TEXAS - A Texas man who drugged his wife’s drinks in an unsuccessful attempt to induce an abortion was sentenced on Feb 7 to 180 days in jail and 10 years of probation, the Harris County district clerk’s office said.

The man, Mason Herring, 39, of Houston, pleaded guilty to injury of a child and assault of a pregnant person as part of a plea agreement, according to the clerk’s office. Herring had initially faced the more serious charge of assault to induce abortion.

Judge Andrea Ball of Harris County District Court ordered Herring to begin serving his sentence on March 1, according to court records.

Herring’s wife, Catherine Herring, said in an interview on Feb 8 that she believed the sentence was insufficient.

“I believe this was a flagrant and profound injustice,” she said, describing her husband’s actions as “a wicked act of deception”.

On seven occasions starting in March 2022, Catherine Herring said, her husband gave her drinks with an unknown substance in them. The following month, she found packaging in the trash that was labeled “Cyrux,” the brand of an abortion pill sold in Mexico, according to the criminal complaint.

The main ingredient in Cyrux is misoprostol, which is used for abortions in some countries.

A lawyer for Mason Herring did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Feb 8.

Despite her husband’s attempt, Catherine Herring said, she gave birth to a girl who was born 10 weeks premature and had to spend 117 days during the first nine months of her life in the hospital. Catherine Herring said their daughter, who is now 18 months old, has developmental delays that have required her to attend therapy.

Ms Herring said she “absolutely” believed that her husband’s actions played a role in their daughter’s premature birth.

In March 2022, the couple spent five days vacationing with their two children in West Texas, and during the trip, Ms Herring said, her husband told her she needed to drink more water to stay hydrated, according to the complaint.

On March 17, after the couple had returned to Houston from their trip, Ms Herring said, her husband brought her breakfast and a cup of water, according to the complaint.

By that time, Ms Herring said, her husband had asked for a separation, and they were not living together. Still, he would routinely arrive in the mornings with breakfast, she said.

“It felt really weird because he was simultaneously asking for a separation,” Ms Herring said. “I was already thinking, ‘Why are you here?’ ”

The morning of March 17, Mason Herring again told his wife that she needed to drink more water, and that he would not leave until she finished drinking all the water in the cup, the complaint said.

While drinking the water, Catherine Herring stopped to note that it appeared to look cloudy, according to the complaint.

“I stopped when I felt like he was acting weird,” Catherine Herring said. “He was telling me, ‘Chug it. Finish your drink.’ ”

Mason Herring told her that “perhaps the cup was dirty or the pipes were dirty,” the document said.

Roughly 30 minutes after she drank the water, Catherine Herring became ill, suffering from painful cramps, bouts of diarrhea and bleeding, according to the complaint.

Later that day, Ms Herring went to the emergency room, where she continued bleeding, the complaint said.

Back at home the next day, Ms Herring said that her husband brought her another drink in an orange sports bottle, but she did not drink it because she noticed a substance she did not recognize in the bottle, according to the complaint.

Over the next six weeks, Ms Herring said, there were several more episodes in which her husband brought her a drink with an unknown substance in it, according to the complaint.

A few weeks later, on April 24, Ms Herring said, she noticed that her husband had taken out the trash, which was “out of character for” him because “he does not do chores around the house,” the complaint said.

When Ms Herring went out to see what was in the trash, she found Cyrux packaging, according to the complaint.

“That was a huge relief to finally find out what it was,” Ms Herring said.

Catherine Herring filed for divorce in May 2022, according to Harris County court records. NYTIMES