Back

#KenPaxton, the #Texas AG, said in a statement that the #midwife, Maria Margarita Rojas, operated clinics in several towns around Houston, including 2 in Harris County, the state’s most populous county, & one in Waller County, a more rural & conservative jurisdiction where the charges were brought.

The stmnt said that she had been “charged with the illegal performance of an abortion,” which has been a second-degree #felony since the state’s near-total #AbortionBan took effect in 2022. She was also charged w/practicing #medicine without a license.

Court records released late Monday indicated that a person who worked w/Ms. Rojas, Jose Ley, 29, was also arrested & charged w/the same offenses.

…The bans on abortions around the country have largely relied on the threat of prosecution, w/few instances in which #criminal cases have actually been filed. #Abortion providers in #Texas & other states w/ abortion bans ceased operations after the decision. #Women seeking abortions have instead had to travel to states where the procedure remains legal or have received abortion medication through the mail.

“This is, as far as I know, the first allegation that someone in a ban state is providing an abortion in direct violation of abortion laws,” said Marc Hearron of the Center for #ReproductiveRights.

In a handful of cases, charges have been brought against people who provided #abortion pills to relatives, either with their knowledge or without.