![\"Houston](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/b2r4m0jokb3wikwt.jpg\")
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HOUSTON<\/strong> – A Texas appeals court on Thursday heard arguments in a civil lawsuit brought by the state against Maria Rojas<\/a>, a Houston-area midwife accused by Attorney General Ken Paxton of violating the state’s total abortion ban and practicing medicine without a license. The hearing concluded without an immediate ruling, which is expected in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n Houston-area midwife accused of violating abortion ban <\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n Rojas’s legal team is appealing a lower court’s injunction that led to the closure of three maternal health clinics she operated in Waller, Cypress, and Spring. Court filings from the Attorney General’s office have also referenced a fourth location in Katy.\u00a0<\/p>\n These clinics primarily served low-income, uninsured, and Spanish-speaking communities.<\/p>\n Dig deeper:<\/p>\n Rojas faces 15 felony counts in a separate criminal case, including three counts of performing an illegal abortion and 12 counts of practicing medicine without a license. If convicted on the top charges, she could face a life sentence.\u00a0<\/p>\n She was held in jail for 10 days on a $1.4 million bond last year and remains under electronic monitoring, with her midwifery license suspended.<\/p>\n The Attorney General’s office has also arrested eight other individuals in connection with the clinics<\/a>, which Paxton has referred to as an “illegal cabal” of unlicensed providers.<\/p>\n \u2018Wild conclusions’ <\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n During Thursday’s oral arguments before the 15th Court of Appeals, attorneys for Rojas, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, contended that the state’s investigation was inadequate and based on “wild conclusions.”\u00a0<\/p>\n They highlighted that the primary piece of evidence cited by the state, possession of the drug misoprostol, is a common medication used by midwives for managing miscarriage care and labor, not exclusive proof of illegal abortions.<\/p>\n The other side:<\/p>\n Prosecutors representing Attorney General Paxton’s office countered that the injunction was necessary to prevent “irreparable injury.”<\/p>\n They noted that Rojas invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 150 times during a prior lower court hearing. In civil proceedings, this can allow a court to draw a “negative inference” regarding a party’s actions, which played a role in the initial injunction.<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n A status hearing for Rojas’s criminal case is scheduled for June 3, 2026, in Waller County District Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n Potential state impact <\/p>\n Why you should care:<\/p>\n This case is significant as it marks the first criminal prosecution of a healthcare provider under Texas’s Human Life Protection Act, the state’s near-total abortion ban, since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n The appeals court’s decision regarding the civil injunction is expected in the coming weeks and could impact how the state investigates and prosecutes healthcare providers under its strict abortion laws.<\/p>\n The Source:<\/b> Oral arguments heard in the Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals on February 19, 2026, Official Center for Reproductive Rights, Office of the Texas Attorney General.<\/p>\n Abortion Laws<\/a>News<\/a>Texas<\/a>Waller County<\/a>Top Stories<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON – A Texas appeals court on Thursday heard arguments in a civil lawsuit brought by the state…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":603042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[148734,4345,50,80,358,52,3187,68,128097],"class_list":["post-603041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-abortion-laws","tag-houston","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-texas","tag-top-stories","tag-tx","tag-us","tag-waller-county"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116102116597755384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}