First Arrests Under Texas Abortion Ban: What We Know
These arrests represent the first criminal charges against individuals who have allegedly performed abortions in not just Texas, but the country since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
On Monday, Texas Attorney General announced that his office had arrested a Houston-area midwife, Maria Margarita Rojas for violating the Texas abortion ban. The Attorney General alleged that Rojas illegally performed abortions in the state.
Under the restrictive Texas abortion ban (which went into effect in September 2021), Rojas faces a second-degree felony and twenty years in prison. Rojas was operating a network of clinics near Houston.
The Texas Tribune noted that the affidavit for her arrest stemmed from a complaint that the Health and Human Service Commission received alleging that two women received abortions at a clinic in Waller, Texas. The Attorney General’s office and the Harris County Sheriff’s Department began surveilling the clinic earlier this year.
On Tuesday Paxton’s office announced that two additional employees of Rojas were also arrested. One of those employees, Jose Ley, was also charged with illegally performing an abortion and for not having the proper license to practice medicine in the state. The other employee, Rubildo Labanino Matos, was charged with practicing medicine without a license and for conspiracy.
Paxton’s office has also filed a temporary restraining order to shut down the clinics that Rojas was overseeing, which predominantly served a Spanish-speaking clientele. These arrests represent the first criminal charges against individuals who have allegedly performed abortions in not just Texas, but the country since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
Late last year Paxton’s office filed a lawsuit against a New York doctor for prescribing and sending abortion pills to Texas residents. In February a judge in Collin County ordered the New York doctor to stop prescribing medication abortion to patients in Texas and fined her over $100,000. The physician nor her attorneys were present in the courtroom.
Paxton’s lawsuit against the New York physician likely represents a new front in the battle over abortion rights, that will likely test whether shield laws in states like New York that protect providers can hold against red states that want to keep full abortion bans intact.
