The arrest of a midwife for allegedly providing illegal abortions is the latest attack on reproductive care.

A midwife in Texas could face up to 20 years in prison for providing reproductive health care in the state, which has one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans. The arrest of Maria Margarita Rojas marks the first criminal case against an alleged abortion provider in Texas since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022 — and a major escalation in the far right’s war against bodily autonomy.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday that Rojas, 48, had been arrested on charges of providing illegal abortions and practicing medicine without a license. One of her employees, Jose Ley, was also arrested for providing an abortion and practicing without a license. Providing an abortion in Texas is punishable by up to life in prison and up to $100,000 in civil fines.

  • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
    15·
    24 hours ago

    Rojas, known as “Dr. Maria,” is a nurse practitioner who has been a licensed midwife in the US since 2018; she previously worked as an obstetrician in Peru. She owns and, before her arrest, operated four health care clinics in the Houston area called Clínicas Latinoamericanas, which predominantly serve low-income Spanish-speaking patients.

    If you don’t want back-alley abortions to become the norm, then you must be in favor of Roe V. Wade, no? Making legal abortions illegal, will only increase the number of back alley abortions.

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.worldEnglish
      112·
      24 hours ago

      If you don’t want back-alley abortions to become the norm, then you must be in favor of Roe V. Wade, no?

      I’ve already discussed this point elsewhere, in this conversation.

      Rojas, known as “Dr. Maria,” is a nurse practitioner who has been a licensed midwife in the US since 2018;

      I’ve already discussed this point elsewhere, in this conversation.

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