Eight people linked to a Houston-area midwife accused of performing illegal abortions have been apprehended and charged with practicing medicine without a license, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday.
In a statement shared online, Paxton described the group as “a cabal of abortion-loving radicals” who “endangered the very people they pretended to help.”
The arrests are the most recent developments in a probe targeting Maria Margarita Rojas, 49, who was prosecuted under the Texas Human Life Protection Act for the first time in 2025.
Rojas is charged with 15 felonies, including three for performing abortions and 12 for practicing medicine without a license. Her case is still open.
“These dens of fake doctors will not be allowed to operate in Texas,” Paxton added.
“Those responsible will be held accountable. I will always protect innocent life and use every tool to enforce Texas’s pro-life laws,” he said.
Paxton said the eight additional defendants worked for Rojas at her clinics in Waller, Cypress, Spring, and Katy.
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 have been charged.
Paxton, who is running for the United States Senate, said in his statement that the arrests demonstrate his dedication to upholding the state’s severe abortion laws and that abortion is “beyond being illegal, it is evil.”
Hudson said Paxton “went after Rojas, a licensed midwife dedicated to helping her pregnant patients.”
“He heartlessly shut down several clinics that provided lawful, affordable services to families around Houston, most of whom were low-income, uninsured immigrants with few options for health care, ” she added.
“It’s no coincidence that he is targeting Rojas and these clinics amid the widespread anti-immigrant sentiment nationwide. Texas health care workers deserve respect, not to be treated like criminals.”