Houston, Texas - A second person was arrested for assisting a Texas midwife accused of providing illegal abortions in violation of the state's near-total ban on the procedure, an official said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that a 48-year-old midwife, Maria Margarita Rojas, was arrested for providing illegal abortions and illegally operating a network of clinics in the Houston area.

Her arrest on the second-degree felony charge – as well as for practicing medicine without a license – marked the first time authorities had filed criminal charges under Texas' laws.

Paxton's office issued another statement Tuesday saying that Jose Cendan Ley, a 29-year-old medical assistant, was also arrested.

Joke of the Day Joke of the Day for March 19, 2025: Popping jokes to get your funny on

The Cuban national had allegedly assisted Rojas "in providing at least one illegal abortion."

"I will continue to fight to protect life and work to ensure that anyone guilty of violating our state's pro-life laws is held accountable," Paxton said in his statement.

His office also said Ley had entered the US without documentation in 2022 and was later placed on parole.

Another nurse was also arrested in early March in connection to this investigation and was "charged with conspiracy to practice medicine without a license," Paxton's office said in the same statement.

Republican-led states, including Texas, have moved to restrict the procedure since the US Supreme Court rescinded federal abortion rights in 2022.

The procedure is prohibited in Texas, save for exceptional cases when the mother's life is in danger.

But activists say a lack of clarity around those exceptions causes doctors to refrain from treating such cases to avoid prosecution, which increases the risk of death.

Joke of the Day Joke of the Night for March 16, 2025: The best animal jokes to make you chuckle

While the law in Texas punishes those who facilitate abortions, it does not prosecute women who terminate their pregnancies.

A Texas court slapped a New York doctor with a $100,000 fine in February for remotely prescribing abortion pills to a patient in Texas.

The same doctor was indicted the month before for "criminal abortion" by the state of Louisiana.

People in many conservative-led states seeking to terminate their pregnancies – including victims of rape or incest – are now forced to travel long distances to other states or seek abortion pills shipped from other states.