First charge of criminal abortion filed in Texas in more than 50 years

Texas AG Ken Paxton charges Houston woman with a crime that brings with it a possible 20 years in prison.

A Texas woman has been charged with criminal abortion and now faces nearly two decades in prison for operating a group of clinics in Houston.

According to a news release, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrest of Maria Margarita Rojas, 48, for allegedly providing illegal abortions and illegally operating a network of clinics in the northwest Houston area. The Associated Press reported that Waller County court records show Rojas was arrested on March 6 and released on bond the next day.

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

This isn’t the first time someone was charged after an abortion since the Dobbs decision, though it was for committing homicide and not criminal abortion. In 2022, Lizelle Herrera, who now goes by the name Lizelle Gonzalez, was arrested and jailed for self-inducing an abortion. A Starr County prosecutor later dropped charges and was disciplined. Herrera filed a civil lawsuit afterward.

The impending prosecution of Rojas is the first for criminal abortion in more than 50 years. For historical context, I went through newspapers.com to find old stories pre-Roe about when the last time an abortion crime had been committed. In the Aug. 14, 1970 edition of the Express-News, police told reporters that the death of 20-year-old Diana Turill was a result of homicide by criminal abortion. The last prosecution I could find evidence of was Dr. J.C. Montgomery, a Port Neches osteopath, and his nurse, Lucy Monk, on March 5, 1970. They were freed on $2,500 bond.

Before Roe, the law in Texas called for three to five years in prison for performing criminal abortions. People could be charged with murder if the woman died.

Rojas, a midwife known as “Dr. Maria,” was taken into custody in Waller County and charged with the illegal performance of an abortion, a second-degree felony, as well as practicing medicine without a license. Rojas faces up to 20 years in prison for performing the abortion.

Paxton allocated a great deal of resources to the lengthy. His office elaborated further by saying that Rojas operated multiple clinics under the names Clinica Waller Latinoamericana in Waller, Clinica Latinoamericana Telge in Cypress, and Latinoamericana Medical Clinic in Spring. He contends that they misrepresented themselves as licensed providers.

In addition to the arrest, Attorney General Paxton’s Healthcare Program Enforcement Division filed a temporary restraining order to shut down Rojas’s network of clinics to prevent further illegal activity.

Under the Texas Human Life Protection Act of 2021, the Attorney General has the authority to seek civil penalties of at least $100,000 per violation for the unlawful performance of an abortion. Waller County District Attorney Sean Whittmore referred the case to Attorney General Paxton for prosecution.