Appeals Court Overturns Order Closing Texas Midwife Clinics Accused of Illegal Abortions
The court found the state relied on inadmissible affidavits and sent the civil case back for further proceedings.
- On Thursday, the Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals reversed a temporary injunction that closed three clinics managed by Houston midwife Maria Rojas, ruling Attorney General Ken Paxton's office provided insufficient evidence to support the shutdown.
- Probable-Cause affidavits from Rojas' separate pending criminal case were improperly admitted in the civil hearing, the appellate panel found, causing the trial court to "abuse its discretion" by using inadmissible evidence.
- Rojas remains under electronic monitoring and faces criminal charges for allegedly performing abortions, having become the first person indicted under Texas' 2022 near-total abortion ban following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
- Despite the ruling, Senior Counsel Jenna Hudson of the Center for Reproductive Rights stated Rojas will likely not reopen the clinics because she surrendered the leases and her midwifery license remains suspended.
- Attorney General Ken Paxton intends to petition the Texas Supreme Court for review to clarify injunction procedures, while the underlying civil lawsuit and Rojas' separate criminal case remain pending before trial courts.
24 Articles
24 Articles
Associated Press News
Appeals court overturns order closing Texas midwife clinics accused of illegal abortions
A Texas appeals court on Thursday dismissed an injunction that forced a Houston-area midwife to close her clinics, ruling that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ’s office relied solely on an anonymous email as evidence that she violated the state’s 2022 abortion ban.
A Texas appeals court overturned an order against a midwife accused of violating the abortion ban and questioned Paxton's evidence
TX court says state’s lawsuit claiming midwife violated abortion ban lacks evidence
A Texas state appeals court on Thursday ruled that the state attorney general had no evidence to support claims that a Houston midwife who was the first person charged with violating Texas’ criminal ban on abortion had performed illegal abortions, and reversed an order shuttering three clinics she managed. The Austin-based Texas Fifteenth Court of...
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