Texas makes first known arrest of abortion providers in US since overturning of Roe News
© WikiMedia (US Department of Justice)
Texas makes first known arrest of abortion providers in US since overturning of Roe

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrest of Maria Margarita Rojas, a Houston-based midwife, for performing abortions and in the northwest Houston area. This marks the first known criminal arrest of an abortion provider since the Supreme Court  overturned Roe v Wade in 2022.

Performing an abortion is a second degree felony in Texas. Rojas, known as Dr. Maria in the Houston area, was charged for this action and also for practicing medicine without a license. The Texas AG’s Law Enforcement Division had been investigating Rojas’s activities for sometime and discovered that Rojas owned and operated multiple clinics under the names Clinica Waller Latinoamericana in Waller, Clinica Latinoamericana Telge, and Latinoamericana Medical Clinic in cities of Cypress and Spring.

According to Paxton, these facilities unlawfully hired unlicensed individuals who then misrepresented themselves as licensed medical professionals. Paxton further stated of the arrest:

In Texas, life is sacred. 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.

Rojas allegedly performed illegal abortion procedures in these clinics “in direct violation” of the Human Life Protection Act (“the Act”). The Act provides an exception whereby abortions can performed legally if it is necessary to save the life of the mother. However, the law has been criticized for lack of clarity on whether there must be an imminent possibility of death to satisfy the exception. Nevertheless, the Texas Supreme Court upheld the validity of the law last year.

Further to the arrest, the Texas AG’s Healthcare Program Enforcement Division has filed for a temporary restraining order to shut down Rojas’s clinics. The Act additionally permits the AG to impose a minimum civil penalty of $100,000 per violation, but no such course of action has been indicated by Paxton yet. Present Texas legislation only targets abortion providers for criminal charges — not the patients.

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