DOJ staffer charged with capital murder in abortion pill case

(The Center Square) – Another abortion-related arrest has been made in Texas, this time for capital murder by a Department of Justice staffer working for the Trump administration.

Abortion, with some exceptions, is illegal in Texas. In recent months, several individuals have been arrested for performing illegal abortions or operating illegal abortion facilities, The Center Square reported. Local entities were also sued for facilitating “abortion tourism” using taxpayer money in violation of state law, prompting the Texas legislature to act, The Center Square reported.

Despite Texas’ abortion bans, abortion medications mifepristone (Mifeprex) and Misoprostol are being delivered in Texas and women are 10 times more likely to die from them than from a surgical abortions, state Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, argued when advocating for the legislature to ban the drugs from being used in Texas.

A movement to ban their sale and delivery in Texas failed in the legislature last month, after a bill filed by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, SB 2880, passed the Senate but died in the House. SB 2880 would allow for lawsuits against companies and individuals mailing, delivering or trafficking abortion pills into Texas. It also included liability provisions for abortion pill manufacturers and distributors as well as market-share liability. It would have allowed women and families to bring wrongful death and injury lawsuits six years after being injured by an abortion caused by the drugs.

Mifepristone was developed in 1988 and approved by the FDA in 2000 “when used together with another medicine … misoprostol … to end an intrauterine pregnancy through ten weeks gestation.” The FDA also approved a generic version of Mifeprex in 2019.

Abortion pills were made solely “to kill babies. That is the only use for which that product was designed,” Little said. Banning them “will make a difference in the lives of Texans. It will save the lives of babies.”

Fast forward a few weeks later, and a Parker County man was arrested for on charges of purchasing abortion pills and giving them to his former girlfriend without her knowledge, resulting in her unborn baby’s death, according to the charges.

The Parker County Sheriff’s Office announced it arrested Justin Anthony Banta on a charge from the sheriff’s office for tampering with physical evidence and a charge from the Texas Rangers for capital murder, which was filed in Tarrant County where the alleged victim lives. Banta was booked into the Parker County Jail.

Banta, who works in the IT department of the U.S. Department of Justice, accessed his phone remotely to perform a “reset, thereby deleting crucial evidence related to the case,” the sheriff’s office said.

He was arrested after an investigation was launched last fall after his former girlfriend alleged he intentionally added abortion pills to her drink in a Tarrant County coffee shop in “order to force her to have an abortion without her knowledge or consent.”

She claims she met Banta at Black Rifle Coffee Company in Benbrook when she was roughly six weeks pregnant to deliver the news. He offered to pay for an abortion and suggested ordering abortion pills through Plan C online, according to the complaint. She wanted to keep the baby and opposed having an abortion.

Within two days of meeting him, she lost the baby after heavy bleeding that prompted her to go to the emergency room. She claims she lost the baby as “a result of the drugs Banta had previously placed in her drink at the coffee shop without her permission,” the sheriff’s office said.

Banta’s attorney told ABC affiliate WFAA News the “charges against Justin will result in a vigorous defense. He maintains his innocence as he did so when he fully cooperated and met with the investigating officers. This cooperation included him voluntarily consenting to his phone being seized by said investigators. I remind the public that these are only allegations and that Justin looks forward to clearing his good name in court.”

Multiple law enforcement agencies are involved in the ongoing investigation, including Benbrook Police, Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Digital Forensic and Technical Services, U.S. Secret Service, the Regional Organized Crime Information Center and the FBI.

“Plan C” abortion pills are accessible by mail in every state. “Abortion access in Texas is restricted, but abortion pills are still available by mail from providers outside of Texas,” according to a Plan C website. It notes that online clinics sell the pills to those “who want abortion pills by mail and follow-up support from a clinician;” websites sell the pills to those “who want abortion pills by mail without consulting a clinician;” and community networks sell the pills to those “who can’t afford other services and want free pills mailed by volunteers.”

Despite passing abortion bans in Texas, the Republican-led legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott have not banned the sale or delivery of abortion drugs in Texas.