Summary

Summary

In March 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a baseless civil lawsuit against Houston-based midwife Maria Rojas and three Houston-area health care clinics, accusing them of providing abortions in violation of the state’s total abortion ban and of practicing medicine without a license. In addition to the civil suit, Paxton also brought felony charges against Rojas–for which she could face up to life in prison. Rojas was held in jail for 10 days until an exorbitant $1.4 million bond was posted. She has since lost her livelihood and been stripped of her midwifery license, pending the outcome of the criminal case.

Rojas and the three clinics in the Houston area largely served low-income, uninsured, primarily Spanish-speaking communities. One of these clinics contained a birthing center where Rojas delivered babies. Following her arrest, a lower court issued an injunction that effectively shut the clinics down, based on a haphazard investigation done by investigators who had no medical training. The Center for Reproductive Rights is now asking the appellate court to reverse that decision.

Background

Background

Rojas is the first person to be prosecuted under Texas’s total abortion ban. Known as a “trigger law,” it took effect following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court in 2022. The act specifically penalizes abortion providers; under it, the Attorney General can seek civil penalties of at least $100,000 for each unlawful abortion a person provides.

The suit against Rojas is part of Texas’s larger war on reproductive health and rights. Attorney General Paxton has been escalating attacks on health care providers across the country in an effort to end abortion access. Texas House Bill 7 (HB7), which took effect in December 2025, purports to give any Texan the right to sue a person who manufactures, distributes, mails, or provides medication abortion in or to Texas. The criminalization of healthcare providers has tragic real-world consequences, as seen in the death of Tierra Walker, who died of preeclampsia after being denied an abortion during her high-risk pregnancy. 

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