diff --git a/lib/render-content/create-processor.js b/lib/render-content/create-processor.js
index c89eb3395b..e083f8da10 100644
--- a/lib/render-content/create-processor.js
+++ b/lib/render-content/create-processor.js
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import useEnglishHeadings from './plugins/use-english-headings.js'
 import wrapInElement from './plugins/wrap-in-element.js'
 import headingLinks from './plugins/heading-links.js'
 import rewriteTheadThScope from './plugins/rewrite-thead-th-scope.js'
+import rewriteForRowheaders from './plugins/rewrite-for-rowheaders.js'
 
 // plugins aren't designed to be used more than once,
 // this workaround lets us do that
@@ -30,17 +31,6 @@ import rewriteTheadThScope from './plugins/rewrite-thead-th-scope.js'
 const wrapperForImages = () =>
   wrapInElement({ selector: 'ol > li img', wrapper: 'span.procedural-image-wrapper' })
 
-const wrapperForRowheadersTbody = () =>
-  wrapInElement({
-    selector: '.rowheaders tbody tr td:first-child',
-    wrapper: 'th',
-    // This moves what it finds in the selector inside the wrapper.
-    rewrite: true,
-    wrapperAdditionalAttributes: {
-      scope: 'row',
-    },
-  })
-
 export default function createProcessor(context) {
   return unified()
     .use(process.env.COMMONMARK ? markdownNext : markdown)
@@ -58,7 +48,7 @@ export default function createProcessor(context) {
     .use(raw)
     .use(wrapperForImages)
     .use(rewriteTheadThScope)
-    .use(wrapperForRowheadersTbody)
+    .use(rewriteForRowheaders)
     .use(rewriteImgSources)
     .use(rewriteAssetImgTags)
     .use(rewriteLocalLinks, context)
diff --git a/lib/render-content/plugins/rewrite-for-rowheaders.js b/lib/render-content/plugins/rewrite-for-rowheaders.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a000d5b6dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/render-content/plugins/rewrite-for-rowheaders.js
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import { visitParents } from 'unist-util-visit-parents'
+
+/**
+ * Where it can mutate the AST to swap from:
+ *
+ *   <div class="rowheaders">
+ *
+ *     ...
+ *     <tbody>
+ *       <tr>
+ *         <td>...</td>
+ *         <td>...</td>
+ *     ...
+ *
+ *   </div>
+ *
+ * to:
+ *
+ *
+ *   <div class="rowheaders">
+ *
+ *     ...
+ *     <tbody>
+ *       <tr>
+ *         <td scope="row">...</td>
+ *         <td>...</td>
+ *     ...
+ *
+ *   </div>
+ *
+ * In other words, if contained in a `.rowheaders`, the *first* `<td>`
+ * in a `<tr>` should have `scope="row"`.
+ *
+ * */
+
+function matcher(node) {
+  return node.type === 'element' && node.tagName === 'td' && !('scope' in node.properties)
+}
+
+function insideRowheaders(ancestors) {
+  return ancestors.some(
+    (node) =>
+      node.properties &&
+      node.properties.className &&
+      node.properties.className.includes('rowheaders')
+  )
+}
+
+function visitor(node, ancestors) {
+  if (insideRowheaders(ancestors)) {
+    const tr = ancestors.at(-1)
+    if (!tr._scoped) {
+      tr._scoped = true
+      node.properties.scope = 'row'
+      node.tagName = 'th'
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+export default function rewriteForRowheaders() {
+  return (tree) => visitParents(tree, matcher, visitor)
+}