Texas Midwife, 2 Clinic Employees Charged in Illegal Abortion Case

Abortion is largely prohibited in Texas, except in extreme circumstances to save the life of a pregnant woman.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference on the U.S. Southern Border and President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, on May 12, 2021. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

A midwife and two clinic workers have been arrested in Texas and charged with illegally performing abortions, in the first such prosecutions since the state enacted some of the nation’s toughest abortion restrictions more than two years ago.

Midwife Maria Margarita Rojas, the owner and operator of a network of clinics in the Northwest Houston area, was charged with illegally performing an abortion, as well as practicing medicine without a license, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday.

According to a statement from Paxton’s office, the clinics allegedly “unlawfully employed unlicensed individuals who falsely presented themselves as licensed medical professionals.”

The abortion charge, classified as a second-degree felony, carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years and a fine of up to $10,000. In addition, the violator could face civil penalties of at least $100,000 per violation under the Texas Human Life Protection Act (HLPA).

The HLPA became law in 2021 and came into effect about a year later when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to return the regulation of abortion to individual states. The law bans abortions from the moment of conception, and the only exception is when the pregnant woman has a life-threatening condition.

Two men were also arrested.

Jose Ley, a clinic employee, was accused of assisting Rojas in at least one abortion despite lacking a medical license to practice in Texas. A Cuban national, Ley entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was later paroled for entry by the Biden administration, according to Paxton’s office.

Rubildo Matos, also from Cuba, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to practice medicine without a license as a nurse practitioner. Paxton’s office said his license is currently on probation by state regulators.

The attorneys representing the suspects could not be immediately reached for comment.

Paxton said his department is still investigating the case.

“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,” he said in a statement.

“Texas law protecting life is clear, and we will hold those who violate it accountable.”

The attorney general reiterated that the state’s abortion ban focuses on prosecuting health care providers who perform illegal abortions, not the patients who seek the procedure.

This criminal case follows a separate civil lawsuit from last December, when Texas sued Margaret Carpenter, a New York City-based physician, for prescribing and sending abortion pills by mail to a patient in Dallas without having a Texas medical license.

Last month, a Texas judge fined Carpenter $100,000 in civil penalty and issued a permanent injunction that barred her from prescribing abortion medication to Texas residents through telemedicine if she did not have a medical license in that state.

That same physician was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury in January, accused of illegally sending abortion pills to a woman who then allegedly gave them to her pregnant teenager. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said that her state would not comply with any request to extradite Carpenter.