Midwife’s Attorneys Slam Texas Abortion Case as ‘Speculation and Conjecture’

In a heated court meeting on Thursday, lawyers for midwife Maria Rojas in the Houston area pushed back against shocking claims that she had done illegal abortions, saying that the state's investigation was careless and based on speculation.

In March, Rojas was arrested because the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said she was running a cash-based abortion business as a telemedicine center. But at the meeting in Waller County on Thursday, her lawyers said there is no direct proof she did what is being accused, and the case is based on speculation rather than fact.

The Center for Reproductive Rights' senior lawyer, Marc Hearron, said that the state's investigation was "shoddy" and that the affidavit backing Rojas' arrest was "rank speculation." Rojas's lawyers also asked why she was taken without a criminal complaint but with a warrant, and they pointed out that she has not yet been charged by a grand jury.

Rojas was freed on bond with an ankle monitor on Thursday. She used to be a doctor in Peru and in 2018 became a licensed midwife in Texas. Judge Gary Chaney's decision in favor of a temporary order means that her clinics will stay closed, even though her lawyers said that they were legally providing maternal care services.

The case is taking place in Waller County, which is a rural area west of Houston. It could be a big test of how Texas enforces its abortion rules after Roe v. Wade. Prosecutors say that surveillance, search warrants, and witness statements were all used in the case. Lawyers for the defense say the case is politically motivated and lacks solid evidence.

Judge Chaney said, "This won't be a short trial," a hint at the long process that was to come. 

As state laws change, this case could become a major issue in the national discussion about how to implement laws against abortion and how to make sure that people can get reproductive health care.