Maria Rojas: Charges, Co-Defendants, and the Texas Abortion Ban Case

The Maria Rojas Texas abortion case is the first criminal prosecution brought under Texas’s near-total abortion ban. Rojas, a licensed Houston-area midwife who ran three clinics serving low-income, Spanish-speaking patients in the northwestern Houston suburbs, was arrested on March 17, 2025, and now faces a 22-count superseding indictment handed down by a Waller County grand jury in June 2026. Her clinics have been closed by court order since late March 2025, and no trial date has been set.¹²

What Rojas Is Charged With

The current indictment, issued in the first week of June 2026, contains 22 counts: three abortion-related charges and 19 counts of “violating the Medical Practice Act resulting in financial harm.” It replaced an earlier 15-count indictment that had charged Rojas with performing an illegal abortion and 12 counts of practicing medicine without a license; those unlicensed-practice counts were dropped and reworked into the financial-harm counts. The new indictment names specific patients allegedly in her care.²

Performing an abortion is a second-degree felony under the Texas Human Life Protection Act, elevated to a first-degree felony if the unborn child dies as a result. If convicted on the abortion-related charges, Rojas faces up to life in prison.³⁴

How the Investigation Started

The case began with a complaint to the Waller County District Attorney’s office involving two patients, one reportedly three months pregnant and the other eight weeks pregnant, who allegedly received abortions at the clinics. Investigators executing search warrants seized misoprostol, a drug that can induce abortion but is also used to manage miscarriages and treat ulcers.⁵

Waller County District Attorney Sean Whittmore, who had previously worked in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office within the Houston Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from 2018 to 2020, referred the matter to the AG. An Assistant Attorney General from that same Medicaid Fraud unit was then sworn in as a Special Assistant Criminal District Attorney in Waller County to handle the prosecution.⁶

Rojas, 48 at the time of her arrest, was held in jail for ten days before a $1.4 million bond was posted. Conditions of her release require her to wear a GPS ankle monitor and bar her from going near the clinic locations. Her midwifery license was suspended after the arrest.⁷⁴

The Clinics and the Civil Shutdown

Rojas, known to some patients as “Dr. Maria,” ran three clinics in the Houston metropolitan area: Clinica Waller Latinoamericana in Waller, Clinica Latinoamericana Telge in Cypress, and Latinoamericana Medical Clinic in Spring. One included a birthing center where she delivered babies. Prosecutors allege the clinics employed unlicensed individuals who presented themselves as licensed medical professionals, that Rojas was summoned to perform procedures rather than kept a full-time presence, and that patients paid cash. Court records cited in local reporting put fees between $800 and $1,300.¹⁸⁹

At the same time as the criminal charges, the AG’s Healthcare Program Enforcement Division filed a civil suit against Rojas and the three clinics, seeking a shutdown and monetary damages. Under the Human Life Protection Act, the Attorney General may seek civil penalties of at least $100,000 per unlawful abortion. On March 27, 2025, Waller County District Judge Gary Chaney granted a temporary injunction closing all three clinics, writing that it served the “interest of the public and enforces state law to preserve unborn life.” The clinics have remained closed since.³⁵

Eight Co-Defendants

In October 2025, eight additional people connected to the clinic network were arrested and indicted for practicing medicine without a license: Yaimara Hernandez Alvarez, Alina Valeron Leon, Dalia Coromoto Yanez, Yhonder Lebrun Acosta, Liunet Grandales Estrada, Gerardo Otero Aguero, Sabiel Bosch Gongora, and Jose Manuel Cendan Ley. Paxton’s office said several were foreign nationals. Cendan Ley separately faces allegations tied to an earlier March 2025 arrest for allegedly performing an abortion on a patient without a life-threatening condition and practicing medicine without a license.¹⁰

The Appeal Over the Clinic Closures

Rojas’s legal team appealed Judge Chaney’s temporary injunction to the Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals, which heard oral argument on February 19, 2026. Justices questioned whether the lower court’s order contained enough explanation to justify keeping the clinics closed and raised concerns about the state’s reliance on unauthenticated exhibits. The state’s attorney, Jeffrey Stephens, told the panel it was “simple reasoning” that Rojas was performing abortions without a license. Rojas’s civil counsel, Marc Hearron, argued the injunction was “short on details” and lacked evidence that the state was likely to succeed. No ruling was issued at the hearing, and the appeal remains pending.⁵²

Even a reversal would not reopen the clinics in the near term. Rojas’s criminal-case bond conditions still forbid her from being near the clinic locations, and her midwifery license remains suspended.⁵

The Defense

Rojas is represented in the criminal case by Houston defense attorney Nicole DeBorde Hochglaube, who once prosecuted Paxton himself in his securities fraud case. In the civil case, she is represented by Marc Hearron and other attorneys from the Center for Reproductive Rights, with co-counsel from Arnold & Porter.¹¹⁷

The defense says investigators never observed any medical procedure inside the clinics. They argue the misoprostol seized was found in a dosage “inconsistent” with abortion protocols and could have been used for miscarriage management or ulcers, and that no mifepristone or surgical instruments were among the evidence. Hearron and the Center for Reproductive Rights have characterized the investigation as “sloppy,” based on “truly wild conclusions,” and conducted by investigators “who had no medical training.” Hochglaube says Rojas never claimed to be a physician and practiced as a licensed midwife, that midwives are permitted to provide prescription drugs under the supervision of a licensed physician, and that the AG’s inflammatory language is designed to “fan the flames of public outcry and poison a jury pool before the facts are heard.” The Center for Reproductive Rights has called the allegations “baseless” and “unfounded.”⁴⁷

Why This Case Matters

Rojas is the first person criminally charged under the Texas Human Life Protection Act, which took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The statute makes performing or attempting an abortion a second-degree felony, raised to a first-degree felony if the unborn child dies, and it explicitly shields patients from any criminal, civil, or administrative liability. Paxton’s office has emphasized that the law “holds abortion providers — not patients — criminally responsible for unlawful procedures.”³¹²¹³

The case is also unusual in how prosecutorial authority was arranged. Abortion prosecutions in Texas have traditionally rested with local district attorneys, and prosecutors in urban counties like Travis and Dallas have publicly stated they will not prioritize them. Here, the Waller County DA’s referral let the AG’s office embed one of its own lawyers as a special prosecutor in a more conservative jurisdiction.⁶⁴

Where Things Stand

As of mid-2026, the criminal case against Rojas is pending with no trial date set. Following the June 2026 superseding indictment, the next court date is scheduled for August 2026. The civil appeal over the clinic closures remains before the Fifteenth Court of Appeals with no ruling issued. Rojas continues to wear an ankle monitor, the clinics remain shuttered, and Hochglaube maintains her client’s innocence.²

1
Texas Attorney General. Attorney General Ken Paxton Announces Arrest of Houston-Area Abortionist and Crackdown on Clinics
2
Click2Houston. Houston-Area Midwife Reindicted on 22 Counts Including Financial Harm Allegations
3
Texas Legislature. HB 1280 – Human Life Protection Act
4
Texas Observer. Ken Paxton Prosecution of Midwife, Power, and Low-Income Houston
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Houston Public Media. Appeals Court Hears Arguments in Houston Midwife Maria Rojas Texas Abortion Law Case
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CW39. Waller County District Attorney Releases Statement on Alleged Abortionist’s Arrest
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Center for Reproductive Rights. Defending Texas Midwife Accused of Violating State Abortion Ban
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NBC News. 8 People Arrested in Case of Texas Midwife Charged With Performing Illegal Abortions
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ABC13. Houston-Area Midwife Maria Rojas Asks Appeals Court to Allow Reopen Clinics Amid Abortion Case
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Houston Public Media. 8 People Affiliated With Houston Woman in Illegal Abortion Case Indicted
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Bloomberg Law. Texas Midwife Charged With Illegal Abortion Hires Notable Lawyer
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State Law Library. Abortion Laws – Criminal Penalties
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The Dialog. Attorney General Ken Paxton Files First Criminal Charges for Alleged Violation of Texas Abortion Restrictions