A midwife in Texas could face up to 20 years in prison for providing reproductive health care in the state, which has one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans. The arrest of Maria Margarita Rojas marks the first criminal case against an alleged abortion provider in Texas since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022 — and a major escalation in the far right’s war against bodily autonomy.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday that Rojas, 48, had been arrested on charges of providing illegal abortions and practicing medicine without a license. One of her employees, Jose Ley, was also arrested for providing an abortion and practicing without a license. Providing an abortion in Texas is punishable by up to life in prison and up to $100,000 in civil fines.
All you need is a license to practice medicine to run a clinic, and that’s the point of being an NP. They’re a business like any other. You don’t need anything to own it because capitalism.
I’m not really comfortable with NPs taking over so many duties in primary care that directly involved MDs should at least be reviewing but honestly the system is so fucked it hardly matters, whatever it takes so people can get any care at all