A Texas Midwife Was Arrested for Providing Abortions: Here Is Everything You Need to Know

glamour.com:

, nearly a year before in June of 2022. It's not the first time Texas, among other states, have pursued abortion-related legal action, but it is the first time the state has actually arrested and criminally charged a provider within the state.There’s been a lot of concern online about a series of anti-abortion bills introduced in the first few weeks of the Trump administration.

Here are the facts.Per the , Texas midwife Maria Margarita Rojas and her employee Jose Ley were both charged with criminal performance of an abortion and with practicing medicine without a license.

Rojas, who was known as “Dr. Maria,” operated a small network of clinics in Harris County Texas. According to , she “unlawfully employed unlicensed individuals who falsely presented themselves as licensed medical professionals.” She and Ley are accused of performing abortions on two people.Rojas's clinics provided healthcare to low-income and primarily Spanish-speaking communities.Criminal performance of an abortion is a second-degree felony in Texas, and faces a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Both Rojas and Ley are being held on a $500,000 bail for the abortion charge, and $200,000 for the medical license charge.The law does not allow for people seeking abortions to be criminally prosecuted.This is the first time (that we know of) the state of Texas has brought criminal charges against an abortion provider since its 2021 ban went into effect.