(Parker County Sheriff's Office/Facebook)
A Texas man is facing capital murder charges after allegedly slipping an abortion-inducing drug into his pregnant girlfriend’s drink, resulting in the loss of her pregnancy. Justin Anthony Banta was arrested on Friday following a months-long investigation by the Parker County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities say the woman, Banta’s former partner, informed him of her pregnancy in late 2023. While he initially offered to pay for an abortion, she declined, stating that she intended to carry the pregnancy to term. At the time, she was about six weeks pregnant and had been told by her doctor that the baby had “a strong heartbeat” and was showing healthy signs.
“Later that same day, the victim reported she met Banta at a coffee shop… where she expressed her suspicion that Banta had secretly added abortion-inducing pills to her drink without her knowledge or permission,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Shortly after their meeting, the woman began experiencing severe bleeding and was rushed to the emergency room. Within days, she suffered a miscarriage. Investigators believe Banta gave her a form of the Plan C pill an abortion drug without her consent. In addition to the capital murder charge, he also faces a charge of tampering with physical evidence.
According to law enforcement, after investigators interviewed Banta and seized his mobile phone, he remotely accessed the device and performed a factory reset, erasing crucial digital evidence.
Banta’s employment in information technology at the U.S. Department of Justice has raised further concerns about his ability to manipulate electronic data. Following confirmation of the alleged tampering, an arrest warrant was issued, and Banta is now in custody awaiting prosecution.
This case has drawn national attention due to Texas’s strict abortion laws, which were expanded in 2022 to ban nearly all abortions except in cases of serious medical emergencies. An earlier law passed in 2021 prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected typically around six weeks and imposes harsh civil and criminal penalties for violations.
The incident marks one of the first instances in Texas where capital murder charges have been brought under these new laws against someone who is not a medical provider. Authorities have not yet disclosed Banta’s bond status or scheduled court appearance. The investigation remains ongoing.
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