Texas arrests midwife for allegedly providing abortions
A midwife in Texas has become the first person to be arrested on charges of performing illegal abortions under the southern US state's near-total ban on the procedure.
Maria Margarita Rojas, 48, is also accused of illegally operating a network of clinics in the Houston area, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday.
'In Texas, life is sacred,' Mr Paxton said. 'Texas law protecting life is clear, and we will hold those who violate it accountable.'
Ms Rojas was taken into custody in Waller County and charged with the illegal performance of an abortion, a second-degree felony under the state's laws, as well as practising medicine without a licence. She could face up to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors petitioned the courts to order the closure of three clinics that Ms Rojas owned in Weller, Cypress and Spring.
Mr Paxton alleged the clinics were staffed by 'unlawfully employed unlicensed individuals' who 'falsely presented themselves as licenced medical professionals to provide medical treatment'.
'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,' Mr Paxton said in his statement.
Since 2022 when the US Supreme Court rescinded federal abortion law previously protected as a result of the landmark Roe v Wade ruling, conservative states have moved to restrict the procedure, including Texas where it is banned in almost all circumstances under the Texas Human Life Protection Act.
In many conservative-led states, women seeking to terminate their pregnancies, including victims of rape or incest, are now forced to travel long distances or find ways to have abortion pills shipped from other states.
Texas has some of the strictest laws restricting abortion: The procedure is prohibited, save for exceptional cases when the mother's life is in danger, but activists say a lack of clarity around those exceptions causes doctors to refrain from treating these cases to avoid prosecution, which increases the risk of death.
Although the law in Texas punishes those who facilitate abortions, it does not prosecute women who terminate their pregnancies.
In February, a Texas court slapped a New York doctor with a $100,000 fine for remotely prescribing abortion pills to a patient in Texas.
A month prior, the same doctor was indicted for 'criminal abortion' by the state of Louisiana, amid a conservative push following the election of Republican president Donald Trump.
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