Waller – Three days after the Texas Attorney General’s office announced a first of its kind arrest since Texas enacted its near total abortion ban, the three clinics operated by Houston-area midwife. 49-year-old Maria Rojas, have been shut down.
The AG’s office announced Thursday that a district court judge signed the temporary restraining order.
Waller County court records show the order was signed on Tuesday.
When KPRC 2 stopped by Latinoamericana Spring Clinic, Telge Clinic Latinoamericana and La Clinica Waller Latinoamericana on Thursday, all three locations were closed.
This case has made national headlines and has sparked conversations about the consequences of Texas’ near total abortion ban, which went into effect in 2022.
“This really illustrates the problem that Texas and Texans cannot become blind to the threats that abortion causes,” said the media director of Texas Right to Life, Kimberlyn Schwartz. “Just because it’s illegal, doesn’t mean that it’s not happening.”
Schwartz believes this case highlights the need for stronger crackdown on illegal abortions and stricter legislation.
“What this case proves is that the abortion industry after Roe V. Wade was overturned, they didn’t give up,” said Schwartz.
But on the other side of the aisle, pro-choice activists believe the overturning of Roe V. Wade has caused more harm than good.
Some activists, like Dr. John Vigil who is the founder of the nonprofit White Hats for Democracy, are already raising money to set Rojas and her workers free from jail.
“What we’re, what we’re already starting to see is, because of the banning of abortion throughout the country, is we’re seeing women die from complications of not being able to have abortion,” said Dr. Vigil. “And we’re going to start seeing more what we call backroom abortions.”
Dr. Vigil has organized a GoFundMe which has already raised more than $4,000 as of Thursday afternoon.
He tells KPRC 2, they need all the help they can to help Rojas.
“Our mission is to protect and defend our freedoms and rights,” said Rojas. “And under the Constitution, we believe, despite the reversal of Roe versus Wade, that that’s a woman’s right.”
KPRC 2 also reached out to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
We received a statement from Marc Hearron, Interim Associate Director of U.S. Litigation:
“While details of this case remain unclear, we know that Texas officials have been trying every which way to terrify healthcare practitioners from providing care and to trap Texans. Their ultimate goal is to end abortion access for all Texans entirely—and they will throw people in jail to get there. Attorney General Paxton even threatened to prosecute a Texas doctor despite a court order granting her permission to provide an emergency abortion to our client Kate Cox. Meanwhile, Texas legislators are considering a bill this very minute to charge pregnant people with homicide for getting an abortion. The state has made it very clear that they don’t care about Texans’ lives. Make no mistake—abortion is safe and essential healthcare that everyone deserves access to in their home communities."
Rojas is currently in the Waller County Jail on a $1.4 million bond. Her worker Jose Ley’s bond is set at $700,000.
As of Thursday afternoon, nurse practitioner Rubildo Labanino was not in jail.
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