This is Texas’ first post-Dobbs criminal abortion case
This afternoon, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrest of midwife Maria Margarita Rojas, charging her with providing illegal abortions—a second-degree felony in the state. The 48-year-old now faces up to 20 years in prison.
Rojas’ arrest marks Texas’ first post-Dobbs criminal case for abortion, which means it will dominate national news and social media. Before the flood of coverage begins, here’s what to keep in mind:
You cannot trust any information coming from Paxton’s office or Texas law enforcement. Paxton and Texas Republicans will be working overtime to paint Rojas as a villain, regardless of the truth. They know that abortion bans are incredibly unpopular, as is arresting healthcare providers. They’re not just fighting a legal battle here, but a PR one.
Consider what happened when Paxton filed a civil suit against New York abortion provider Dr. Maggie Carpenter: His office falsely claimed that the woman Carpenter sent abortion medication to suffered “serious complications” despite providing no evidence. There’s every reason to believe Paxton’s team will pull similar tactics here, coming out with all sorts of claims about this midwife and her practice.
So please pause before sharing information about this case. Right now, almost all available details are coming from Paxton or law enforcement, meaning early media coverage will overwhelmingly reflect the state’s framing. Be careful and deliberate about the sources you amplify.
And remember: The media gets abortion stories wrong all the time. When a Nebraska teenager was arrested for self-managing her abortion, national outlets falsely reported that she had sent a Facebook message about “how she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body.” That quote wasn’t hers—it was something a police officer said—but the line got reprinted again and again in an attempt to make the young woman seem as callous as possible.
Something similar happened when Brittany Watts was arrested in Ohio for ‘abuse of a corpse’ after having a miscarriage. Local news stories framed her as indifferent to her pregnancy loss. Misogyny, racism, and classism all play a role in the way these cases are talked about and covered.
That’s why it’s so important we remember how abortion criminalization operates: Who gets targeted in these cases is no accident. The Texas Tribune reports, for example, that Rojas’ clinics “provided health care to a primarily Spanish-speaking, low-income community.”
Paxton, a political operator who picks cases strategically, likely chose Rojas because he believes Americans won’t find her sympathetic—whether due to racism, classism, or the stories his office plans to spin. That’s what’s happening in Louisiana, where prosecutors have arrested a mother they say ‘coerced’ her teenager into having an abortion. (Tellingly, they didn’t charge with her ‘coercion,’ just abortion.)
In other words: Republicans are strategically targeting people they think the public won’t rally behind. Let’s make sure to prove them wrong.
I’ll have more details soon, but if you need information on pregnancy criminalization, go to Pregnancy Justice.
For free legal help as a patient or health practitioner, call If/When/How’s free Repro Helpline: 844-868-2812
