CV NEWS FEED // A Texas midwife has been arrested and charged with illegally providing abortions and operating three clinics without a license, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced March 17.
According to a news release from his office, the abortions allegedly performed by Maria Margarita Rojas are in direct violation of the Texas Human Life Protection Act.
Abortions are only legal in Texas to save the life of the mother, and other abortions are classified as second-degree felonies, the Texas Standard reported. Possible sentences include up to 20 years in prison and a penalty of at least $100,000 per illegal abortion performed.
Paxton’s news release added that Rojas’ three clinics “unlawfully employed unlicensed individuals who falsely presented themselves as licensed medical professionals to provide medical treatment.”
According to the Texas Standard, a clinic employee and a nurse practitioner were also arrested in connection with the investigation into Rojas. In a March 18 news release, Paxton announced that the clinic employee, Jose Manuel Cendan Ley, worked as a medical assistant and allegedly helped Rojas during at least one illegal abortion. He also allegedly performed other “illegal medical procedures” during his employment by the clinic. Ley was arrested March 17.
Paxton also noted that “Ley is a Cuban national who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was later paroled under the open borders policies enacted by the lawless Biden Administration.”
The nurse practitioner, Rubildo Labanino Matos, was arrested March 8 and is charged with conspiracy to practice medicine without a license.
Paxton’s office has filed for a temporary restraining order to shut down the illegal clinics. The news release also highlighted that “Texas law holds abortion providers — not patients — criminally responsible for unlawful procedures.”
Paxton reaffirmed his commitment to the pro-life cause in the news release, stating, “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 added. “Texas law protecting life is clear, and we will hold those who violate it accountable.”