Houston – Attorneys for Houston-area midwife Maria Rojas have filed a new court document this week, asking an appeals court judge to reconsider the temporary injunction that shut down Rojas’ clinics back in March.
The Texas Attorney General’s office accuses Rojas of operating a network of medical clinics performing illegal abortions.
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Rojas’ arrest was the first-of-its-kind since Texas enacted a near total abortion ban.
In March, a Waller County judge agreed with the AG’s office that Rojas’ clinics should stay shut and ordered a temporary injunction.
In the new 83-page court filing, Rojas’ attorneys argue the order should be reversed because the State did not provide enough evidence that Rojas was performing abortions or practicing medicine without a license.
Attorneys wrote in part that the AG’s office " conducted a shoddy investigation and leapt to wild conclusions."
Along with Rojas, her workers Jose Ley and Rubildo Labanino Matos were also arrested. Prosecutors accuse Ley and Matos of assisting Rojas in illegal abortions.
Attorneys also claim investigators never entered the clinics or observed the clinics’ operations.
The AG’s office claims Rojas administered the drug misoprostol to a patient as medication abortion.
Rojas’ attorneys state in the court documents that misoprostol is also used for non-abortion uses before labor and after delivery of a baby.
Rojas has not yet been indicted of the crimes she is accused of. Her attorneys also state that the AG’s office has failed to provide a criminal discovery.
The AG’s office has not responded to request for comment on why Rojas has not been indicted.
Currently, there are no hearings pending for Rojas in Waller County court.
