Houston, Texas - A Texas midwife has become the first person to be arrested on charges of performing illegal abortions under the state's near-total ban on the procedure, officials said Monday.

Maria Margarita Rojas (48) stands accused of providing illegal abortions and illegally operating a network of clinics in the Houston area, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced in a statement.

"In Texas, life is sacred," Paxton said. "Texas law protecting life is clear, and we will hold those who violate it accountable."

Rojas, known as "Dr. Maria," was taken into custody in Waller County and charged with the illegal performance of an abortion, a second-degree felony, as well as practicing medicine without a license, according to the statement.

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Prosecutors also petitioned the courts to have three clinics that she ran closed.

"These facilities unlawfully employed unlicensed individuals who falsely presented themselves as licensed medical professionals to provide medical treatment," the statement said. "Rojas also performed illegal abortion procedures in her clinics in direct violation of the Texas Human Life Protection Act."

AFP contacted the network of clinics by phone, but was told that the spokesperson was unavailable.

Since the Supreme Court rescinded federal abortion rights in 2022, conservative states have moved to restrict the procedure, including Texas, where it is banned in almost all circumstances.

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

A month prior, the same doctor was indicted for "criminal abortion" by the state of Louisiana, amid a conservative push following the election of Republican Donald Trump.

Texas has some of the strictest laws restricting abortion: The procedure is prohibited, 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 these cases to avoid prosecution, which increases the risk of death.

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"I will always do everything in my power to protect the unborn, defend our state's pro-life laws, and work to ensure that unlicensed individuals endangering the lives of women by performing illegal abortions are fully prosecuted," Paxton said in his statement.

In many conservative-led states, women 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.

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