HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas midwife has been arrested and accused of providing illegal abortions, marking the first time authorities have filed criminal charges under the state’s near-total abortion ban, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday.
Maria Margarita Rojas has been charged with the illegal performance of an abortion, a second-degree felony, as well as practicing medicine without a license, which is a third-degree felony.
Paxton alleges that Rojas, 48, illegally operated at least three clinics in the Houston area where illegal abortion procedures were performed in direct violation of state law.
“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,” Paxton said in a statement. “Texas law protecting life is clear, and we will hold those who violate it accountable.”
Waller County District Attorney Sean Whittmore, whose office is located northwest of Houston, referred the case to Paxton for prosecution, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.
Waller County court records show Rojas was arrested on March 6 and she was released on bond the next day.
Court records did not list an attorney for Rojas who could speak on her behalf.
A woman reached by phone at one of Rojas’ clinics said Monday she did not know who Rojas was. Messages left at Rojas’ two other clinics were not immediately returned. On their Facebook pages, the clinics advertise various services, including physical exams, ultrasounds and vaccines.
Texas is one of 12 states currently enforcing a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy. Texas' ban allows exceptions when a pregnant patient has a life-threatening condition. Opponents of the ban say it is too vague when it comes to when medically necessary exceptions are allowed. A bill has been filed in the current Texas legislative session to clarify medical exceptions allowed under the law.
The charge of illegal performance of an abortion carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison while the charge of practicing medicine without a license carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Paxton’s office said it has filed a temporary restraining order to close Rojas’ clinics.
In the U.S., there have been few, if any, criminal charges filed alleging the operation of illegal abortion clinics since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door to state abortion bans.
A Louisiana grand jury earlier this year indicted a New York doctor on charges that she illegally prescribed abortion pills online to a Louisiana patient. Paxton has filed a civil lawsuit against the same doctor under a similar accusation.
Associated Press reporter Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
FILE - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton makes a statement at his office, May 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a GOP-backed bill Thursday to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities, declaring that diversity should be embraced as a strength while branding the legislation as being “about hate.”
Beshear, who is seen as a potential candidate for the White House in 2028, announced his veto in a social media video. His forceful defense of diversity initiatives comes as Republican President Donald Trump seeks to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I believe in the Golden Rule that says we love our neighbor as ourself, and there are no exceptions, no asterisks,” Beshear said. "We love and we accept everyone. This bill isn’t about love. House Bill 4 is about hate. So I’m gonna try a little act of love myself, and I’m gonna veto it right now.”
In his formal veto message, the governor bluntly said the bill might someday be seen as part of an “anti-civil rights” movement.
The anti-DEI legislation cleared both legislative chambers by lopsided margins. Kentucky's Republican supermajority legislature will have a chance to override Beshear's veto when lawmakers reconvene in late March for the final two days of this year's 30-day session. Throughout Beshear's tenure as governor, GOP lawmakers have, with gusto, routinely swept aside his vetoes to push their policies into law.
Republican state Rep. Josh Calloway denounced Beshear's veto on the social media platform X, calling it “nothing but political theater, and the people of Kentucky see right through it. DEI (Division, Exclusion, Indoctrination) must DIE in KY.”
The measure's lead sponsor, GOP state Rep. Jennifer Decker, said at a recent committee hearing that “DEI bureaucracy” had made college "more divided, more expensive and less tolerant.”
“Taxpayers should not fund such practices, however well-intended," she said. "Historically, America has striven for equal opportunity, not subjective equity, which DEI now pursues through discriminatory missions, hirings and scholarships.”
Kentucky Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal commended Beshear for the veto, saying the bill would "do nothing to improve education in this state, but would instead send a harmful message that diversity is something to be feared rather than embraced.”
The measure Beshear rejected would require Kentucky's public universities and community and technical colleges to defund DEI initiatives. It also would require the schools to eliminate DEI offices and prohibit them from requiring students or staff to attend DEI training sessions.
“I’ll always believe that diversity is a strength and never a weakness,” Beshear said in the video from his office at the Kentucky Capitol. “That we are better with more voices and more seats at our table.”
More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of Trump’s campaign to end DEI programs, which his officials say exclude white and Asian American students.
The U.S. Education Department recently announced the new investigations, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.
Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at eliminating the U.S. Education Department, advancing a campaign promise to eliminate an agency blasted by conservatives as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. Beshear has criticized efforts to mothball the agency.
The term-limited Kentucky governor recently participated in a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 60th anniversary of the clash that became known as Bloody Sunday. The attack shocked the nation and galvanized support for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Last year, Beshear condemned efforts to limit DEI practices at public universities after marching with other Kentuckians to commemorate the 60th anniversary of a civil rights rally that featured Martin Luther King Jr. in the state’s capital city of Frankfort. Anti-DEI legislation died last year in Kentucky amid a House-Senate impasse in what was a rare temporary setback on a priority, hot-button issue.
“DEI is not a four-letter word,” Beshear said at the time. “DEI is a three-letter acronym for very important values that are found in our Bible. Diversity, equity and inclusion is about loving each other. It’s about living out the Golden Rule. ... Diversity will always make us stronger.”
FILE - Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear sits for an interview in Versailles, Ky., May 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)
