Texas arrests midwife on felony abortion charges

'In Texas, life is sacred,' said Attorney General Ken Paxton

(Image credit: Jahi Chikwendiu / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

published 18 March 2025

What happened

Texas authorities arrested a Houston-area midwife for allegedly attempting to perform abortions, state Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday. The charges against Maria Margarita Rojas and an employee at one of her clinics, Jose Ley, marked the "first criminal charges under the state's near-total abortion ban and one of the few times a provider anywhere in the country has been charged since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022," The Washington Post said.

Paxton said Rojas, 48, operated three clinics in the Houston area that had performed illegal abortions, and accused her of practicing medicine without a license. The charges were brought in Waller County, a conservative jurisdiction northwest of Houston, after an investigation by Paxton's office, District Attorney Sean Whittmore told The Texas Tribune. He said he invited Paxton, his former boss, to prosecute the case. "In Texas, life is sacred," Paxton said in a statement.

Rojas was an obstetrician in her native Peru before moving to the U.S. and getting certified as a midwife, according to Holly Shearman, a fellow midwife and friend. Shearman said she was "shocked" by the allegations. "I don't believe it for one second," she told the Tribune. "She never ever talked about anything like that, and she's very Catholic," Shearman told The New York Times. "I just don't believe the charges."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.