AUSTIN, Texas (LifeSiteNews) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed criminal charges against two individuals for their roles in operating illegal abortion businesses.
Paxton’s office “announced the arrest of Maria Margarita Rojas, 48, for providing illegal abortions and illegally operating a network of clinics in the Northwest Houston area,” according to a Monday news release. “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.”
According to Fox 26, the attorney general’s office also charged Jose Cendan Ley with “illegal performance of an abortion and practicing medicine without a license.” Ley is not a U.S. citizen but rather a Cuban national, according to the news outlet.
Rojas owned several illegal abortion facilities that “unlawfully employed unlicensed individuals who falsely presented themselves as licensed medical professionals to provide medical treatment,” according to the attorney general’s office. “Rojas also performed illegal abortion procedures in her clinics in direct violation of the Texas Human Life Protection Act.”
Each illegal abortion can carry a fine as high as $100,000 under the Texas Human Life Protection Act of 2021. Illegal abortionists also face up to 99 years in prison.
Paxton declared that his office will always defend innocent human life.
“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 stated in the news release. “Texas law protecting life is clear, and we will hold those who violate it accountable.”
Waller County District Attorney Sean Whittmore echoed those sentiments.
“In Waller County we respect the sanctity of all life and our citizens expect people to follow the laws of the Great State of Texas,” he stated, according to Fox 26.
Paxton has vigorously defended the preborn in Texas. He also prosecuted a New York abortionist who he accused of mailing illegal abortion pills into the state.
Judge Bryan Gantt of North Texas ordered abortionist Margaret Daley Carpenter to stop sending abortion pills into the state and to pay a $100,000 fine, as LifeSiteNews reported last month.