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In what are reportedly the first arrests under the near-total abortion ban enacted in 2022 in Texas, a midwife and an associate have been charged for allegedly performing illegal abortions in Houston area clinics. The Texas Newsroom's Lucio Vasquez reports from Houston.
LUCIO VASQUEZ, BYLINE: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says Maria Rojas performed illegal abortions. An employee of one of the clinics, Jose Ley, is also facing similar allegations, according to court records. Paxton did not provide details on the arrests. The attorney general's office is seeking a court order to shut down the medical clinics where the abortions allegedly took place. The clinics did not respond to interview requests. Legal experts believe the arrests are the first ones made under the state's near-total abortion ban. Brandon Rottinghaus, political science professor at the University of Houston, says the arrests could test the boundaries of the law.
BRANDON ROTTINGHAUS: There's a lot of uncertainty right now with respect to the law, with respect to how the law would be applied in a criminal matter.
VASQUEZ: The ban has provided exceptions for abortions only when a mother's life is at risk but not for rape or incest. A separate state law made performing an abortion a felony offense after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade back in 2022. Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Woman's Health, a privately owned abortion provider, says the ban makes it harder for doctors to provide necessary care. In 2022, when the ban went into full effect, Texas' maternal mortality rate went up by 56%. The rate increased by 11% nationally. In a statement on Monday, Paxton said he would do everything in his power to defend the state's pro-life laws. In 2021, he told Fox News...
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KEN PAXTON: I think this bill is defensible, and I think we're going to - we are going to do a really good job defending it. We already have.
VASQUEZ: Illegally performing an abortion in Texas is a second-degree felony, which carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
For NPR News, I'm Lucio Vasquez.
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