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2h ago

Eight Indicted in Houston Abortion Case Tied to Midwife, Texas AG Says

The action extends a case centered on midwife Maria Rojas already charged with 15 felonies under Texas’ near‑total abortion ban.

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WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 20: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attends the executive order signing ceremony to reduce the size and scope of the Education Department in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. The order instructs Education Secretary Linda McMahon, former head of the Small Business Administration and co-founder of the World Wrestling Entertainment, to shrink the $100 billion department, which cannot be dissolved without Congressional approval. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Overview

  • Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that eight people connected to clinics operated by Maria Rojas were arrested and indicted on charges of practicing medicine without a license.
  • At least one of the eight, Jose Manuel Cendan Ley, is also accused of performing an abortion while unlicensed and allegedly allowing patients to believe he was a physician trained in Cuba.
  • Waller County records show grand juries returned indictments on September 26 and October 2, though supporting documents for all defendants were not immediately available.
  • Rojas, the first person charged under the Human Life Protection Act, has pleaded not guilty to a 15‑count indictment that includes three counts of performing an abortion and multiple counts tied to unlicensed practice.
  • Rojas’ attorneys and reproductive‑rights advocates dispute the state’s evidence, arguing that misoprostol has legitimate obstetric uses and that some duties at issue could have been properly delegated, while Paxton condemned the defendants in a sharply worded statement.