A Texas man has been charged with capital murder after allegedly slipping an abortion-inducing drug into his pregnant girlfriend’s drink without her knowledge, causing her to lose the baby. Justin Anthony Banta was arrested on Friday following a months-long investigation, according to the Parker County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities say Banta’s former partner accused him of secretly giving her the Plan C pill—an abortion drug—after she told him she planned to keep the baby. The woman had reportedly informed Banta of her pregnancy in late 2023. While he initially offered to pay for an abortion, she declined, expressing her intent to carry the pregnancy to term.
At the time, she was approximately six weeks pregnant and had been told by her doctor that the baby had “a strong heartbeat” and showed healthy vital 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 stated.
Shortly after their meeting, the woman experienced heavy bleeding and sought emergency medical care. Tragically, she lost the pregnancy within days. In addition to the capital murder charge, Banta also faces charges of tampering with physical evidence. Authorities allege that after police interviewed Banta and seized his mobile phone, he accessed the device remotely and performed a reset, deleting crucial evidence.
Investigators confirmed that Banta was employed in information technology at the U.S. Department of Justice, raising further concerns about his ability to manipulate digital data. Following the discovery of the phone tampering, law enforcement secured an arrest warrant. Banta is now in custody and awaiting prosecution. The case remains under active investigation.
The incident comes amid growing scrutiny of Texas’s stringent abortion laws. In 2022, the state enacted legislation banning nearly all abortions, with narrow exceptions only for serious medical emergencies. An earlier law passed in 2021 prohibits the termination of pregnancies once a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks, and also imposes significant civil and criminal penalties for violations.
This case is among the first to involve charges of capital murder under these new laws for a non-medical provider. It underscores the potential legal consequences not only for those performing illegal abortions, but also for individuals accused of coercing or secretly inducing them. Officials have not disclosed Banta’s bond status or when he is expected to appear in court. Meanwhile, authorities are continuing their efforts to gather more evidence in the case.