First Person Charged With Violating Texas’ Extreme Abortion Ban

A Houston-area midwife is the first person to be charged in Texas with violating the state’s extreme abortion ban, which outlaws the procedure under nearly all circumstances.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced the arrest of Maria Margarita Rojas on Tuesday, saying an investigation found she has been “providing illegal abortions and illegally operating a network of clinics in the Northwest Houston area.” Rojas, who Paxton said went by Dr. Maria, was charged with the illegal performance of an abortion and practicing medicine without a license.

The former is a second-degree felony in Texas and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

“In Texas, life is sacred,” Paxton said in a statement. “I will always do everything in my power to protect the unborn, defend our state’s pro-life laws, and work to ensure that unlicensed individuals endangering the lives of women by performing illegal abortions are fully prosecuted. Texas law protecting life is clear, and we will hold those who violate it accountable.”

An investigation found that Rojas owned and operated multiple clinics, including Clinica Waller Latinoamericana in Waller, Clinica Latinoamericana Telge in Cypress and Latinoamericana Medical Clinic in Spring. At these clinics, Paxton’s office alleges, Rojas performed illegal abortions and employed “unlicensed individuals who falsely presented themselves as licensed medical professionals to provide medical treatment.”

Paxton’s office did not share any details about possible poor health outcomes at any of Rojas’ clinics. Phone calls to the three locations were not answered Monday.

Rojas, who is listed as a licensed midwife by the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation, has not spoken out publicly, either directly or through legal counsel.

Holly Shearman of Tomball Birth Center told the Texas Tribune that Rojas worked part-time there providing prenatal care. She described Rojas as a devout Catholic and skilled midwife whose clinics largely served Spanish-speaking, low-income patients.

“I don’t believe it for one second,” Shearman told the Tribune about the allegations. “I’ve known her for eight years and I’ve never heard her talk about anything like that. I just can’t picture Maria being involved in something like this.”

Reproductive rights advocates have long warned that extreme abortion bans like the one in Texas ― which only allows abortion to save the life or health of the mother ― do not lead to fewer abortions, but rather to less safe ones.

“Banning abortion doesn’t stop abortion; it just forces people to turn to illegal and sometimes unsafe methods and increases the inequality between the haves and have-nots, with a particularly devastating impact on people of color,” Planned Parenthood notes in its abortion fact sheet.