The Troubling Timing of Texas’ Abortion Arrests

3.18.25

Click to skip ahead: In Criminalizing Care, every thing we know about the Texas midwife arrested on felony abortion charges. Legislation Watch looks at the Texas bill that Ken Paxton doesn’t want you to know about. In the States, news from Kentucky, Maryland, Florida and Indiana. In the Nation, some quick hits. In You Love to See It, a very happy almost-birthday to a legend. And Coming Soon has a sneak peek of tomorrow’s newsletter.

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Criminalizing Care

I know we’re all thinking about Maria Margarita Rojas, the Texas midwife arrested on felony abortion charges. As I mentioned in last night’s newsletter, Rojas’ colleague Jose Ley was also arrested on the same charges. Today, we learned that a third individual, Rubildo Labanino Matos, has also been arrested and charged.

If you need to catch up, Abortion, Every Day’s coverage is below:

BREAKING: Texas Midwife Arrested on Felony Abortion Charges

I’m still gathering information on the best ways to support those arrested. What I can tell you is that people close to the case are asking folks not to start private fundraisers. I’ll have more details soon.

In the meantime, let’s talk about how Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will spin this case in the court of public opinion. Just as Louisiana prosecutors are framing abortion-related criminal charges there as a case of ‘coercion,’ Paxton and Texas officials are crafting their own messaging strategy.

Judging by the charges and initial statements, my guess is that prosecutors will focus on claims that Rojas and her colleagues practiced medicine ‘without a license’—a deliberate attempt to paint her clinic and care as unsafe. (For context, records show that Rojas has been a licensed midwife for at least seven years.)

Consider what Waller County criminal district attorney Sean Whittmore told a local news outlet:

"It's concerning there are people out there doing things without the proper training, and that puts anyone at risk. Any patient who walks in there and thinks they're being treated by a physician."

This is exactly what I warned about yesterday: With law enforcement as the only source of information, early media coverage is skewing toward the prosecution’s narrative. And if you pay attention to local reports, you’ll catch a preview of the talking points we can expect to see amplified over the coming weeks and months:

One more thing about language: Most news coverage says that Rojas and her colleagues “performed” abortions, giving readers the impression they were providing procedural abortions. But as the Texas Tribune reports, they’re actually accused of providing abortion medication.

That one word—performed—makes a world of difference. And prosecutors know it. Consider this yet another reminder to approach early media coverage with skepticism and wait for more details to come out.

Finally, it’s crucial to think about how criminalization operates. As I’ve written before, it’s no coincidence that Paxton targeted someone serving a low-income, non-English-speaking community. From racism and misogyny to media manipulation, these prosecutions follow a pattern.

One thing you can do today: Listen to The A Files, the essential podcast from Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone, to learn more about criminalization. This episode, in particular, is worth your time:

Legislation Watch

We’re not quite done with Texas yet, because we need to talk about timing. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that state Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the charges against Rojas and her colleagues at the same time Republicans are advancing Texas’ biggest anti-abortion bill since the end of Roe.

At least two of the three charged were arrested weeks ago, but Paxton waited to send a press release out, knowing that it would drown out coverage of SB 2880—legislation that cements Texas’ transformation into a full-fledged anti-abortion police state.

First flagged by The 19th, this behemoth of a bill would allow everyday citizens to sue pro-choice websites that share information about how to get an abortion, social media platforms that allow that information to be posted—even payment processors like Venmo or secure messaging apps like Signal, where people might send money for abortion pills or share info on how to get the medication. The list goes on.

This isn’t just about Texas: The goal is to create a chilling effect that shuts down online abortion content across the country. The hope is that by allowing any private citizen to sue, tech companies will decide it’s too costly and legally onerous to allow abortion-related content at all.

And let’s be real: Some of these companies are already censoring abortion content without the threat of lawsuits. It won’t take much to push them further.

What about free speech? Well, Republicans think they can dodge First Amendment challenges by structuring this bill around civil lawsuits from private individuals rather than state-enforced criminal charges.

And I want to be clear, the consequences of a bill like this becoming law go beyond Instagram censoring someone who posts about how to get abortion medication—though that would be bad enough. What happens if Venmo, Paypal and other financial platforms are pressured into monitoring and reporting transactions that might be related to abortion? Or if abortion funds are blacklisted from online payment transaction apps and sites?

What happens if platforms like Substack decide that abortion newsletters are too legally risky to host?

All of which is to say: This is a dangerous fucking bill, and Texas Republicans think we’re all going to be too distracted by the recent arrests to notice what they’re trying to pull. We can’t let that happen.

I’ll be writing more about SB 2880 in the coming days, and I’d urge you to ring the alarm, as well.

“People that face the most risk are actually the kind of non-sophisticated people. Not the New York doctor who's trying to make sure abortion is accessible and not the person shipping abortion pills [overseas], but the random friend who's like, ‘I'm going to Colorado, I could just get you some abortion pills.’”

- Texas law professor Joanna Grossman on those most at risk for being charged with ‘aiding and abetting’ an abortion

In the States

Let’s start with news out of Kentucky, where Planned Parenthood is pushing Gov. Andy Beshear to veto HB 90—the bill I wrote about last week that would make it easier to ban life-saving abortions. In a statement, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates (PPAA) echoes what Abortion, Every Day reported:

“By codifying anti-abortion rhetoric such as so-called ‘maternal-fetal separation’ and redefining critical, lifesaving procedures as something other than abortion, HB 90 ignores evidence-based medical standards and forces doctors to ignore their years of training.”

Tamarra Wieder, Kentucky State Director for PPAA, also notes, “HB 90 is not about improving the state’s restrictive abortion ban, it's about solidifying the dangerous lie that abortion is never necessary to save a pregnant person’s life.” YES THANK YOU.

The Kentucky Lantern reports that Gov. Beshear, a Democrat, has raised concerns about whether the legislation was “more or less restrictive than the current understanding in the medical community that we have right now.”

Now, even if Gov. Beshear vetoes the bill, Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature can override him. Still, I’m really glad to see that the conversation is focusing on Republican language tricks. Calling out this bullshit matters. So thank you, PPAA!

If you missed AED’s story last week about the Kentucky legislation, catch up below:

Kentucky Republicans Are Making it Easier to Ban Life-Saving Abortions

I’m sorry to say that Florida is advancing a bill that would force anti-abortion propaganda into public school classrooms. Today, a state House committee approved HB 1255, which would mandate children watch a video produced by Live Action—one of the most extreme anti-abortion organizations in the country.

Adding insult to injury, this video is being framed as a “scientific” lesson on “embryologic development.” Republicans claim it was vetted by medical experts—but neglect to mention that those ‘experts’ are activists from groups like the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and the Charlotte Lozier Institute, organizations that believe women should be denied life-saving abortions.

I’ve been tracking this disturbing trend for over a year, watching in horror as state after state not only mandates this indoctrination but codifies punishment for schools that refuse to comply. Some of these bills, for example, would allow the state’s attorney general to sue public school districts that decline to use the video in their health classes.

As I’ve written before, this isn’t just about one video. The ‘Baby Olivia’ bills are part of a larger conservative strategy to infiltrate schools and pump children full of anti-abortion nonsense as early as possible:

Anti-Abortion Propaganda in Schools

Some good news! Maryland is on track to become the first state to use $25 million in unspent insurance funds to help uninsured and underinsured patients access abortion care. The money will be distributed through the creation of a Public Health Abortion Grant Program. From The Washington Post:

“The grant program does not use taxpayer money. Instead, it draws from a pool of funds collected through a $1 per month surcharge on every health insurance plan sold through the state’s public health exchange established under the Affordable Care Act. Over the last 15 years, that fund has grown to $25 million that can only be spent on abortion services, but the state has not been able to funnel that money directly to abortion providers because it has not had access to the fund.”

Maryland Republicans worked hard to derail the effort, but ultimately failed. Bills are advancing and poised to pass in both legislative chambers.

Finally, a quick update on Indiana, where two abortion providers are suing to stop the state from turning patients’ abortion reports into public records—treating them like birth and death certificates.

Abortion, Every Day readers have been following this story for a while: Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita is desperate to make these records public so anti-abortion extremists can comb through them, hunting for any excuse to accuse providers of wrongdoing. They claim it’s about “protecting women’s health” and ensuring clinic safety—but in reality, they’re just looking for minor bureaucratic errors that Rokita can use to harass and target abortion providers.

Thankfully, two Indiana OB-GYNs—Dr. Caitlin Bernard and Dr. Caroline Rouse—are fighting back. They argue that making these reports public wouldn’t just put patients at risk of being identified—it would also endanger abortion providers.

And they’re right. The Indiana anti-abortion group that sued to make the records public already publishes a list of so-called ‘violations’ on their website—publicly naming providers and accusing them of breaking the law even when they haven’t. The idea, of course, is to terrify doctors and embolden anti-abortion maniacs. From Dr. Bernard:

“I’m concerned about my patients’ privacy and the release of my patients’ protected health information to the public for, as far as I can tell, no real good reason except to essentially make public citizens vigilantes.”

Precisely.

In the Nation

• Senate Democrats are pushing legislation to repeal the Comstock Act;

• Ms. magazine lays out how to spot a fake abortion clinic;

• NOTUS reports that Donald Trump is trying to buy himself some time on abortion medication;

• The New York Times on the women most impacted by abortion bans;

• Finally, Trump lied in his recent speech to the Justice Department, claiming that the Biden administration treated Catholics like “domestic terrorists.” The truth? They oversaw FACE Act arrests of violent anti-abortion extremists.

You Love to See It

What did you get up to tonight? Because this is what I was doing!!

I think we could all take Gloria’s advice these days and “get a grip on a wish.” I know I will.

Coming Soon

Check your inboxes tomorrow for news on abortion access for minors in Colorado; an anti-abortion attack on a virtual clinic in Ohio; efforts to codify fetal personhood efforts in Kansas; and the latest on abortion access in Missouri.

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