Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced charges against a Waller County clinic owner and employees tied to illegal abortions and unlicensed medical practice in the Houston region.
Last March, the owner of multiple Houston clinics and two staff were charged with unlawful abortions and practicing medicine without a license, the first criminal prosecution under Texas' near-total abortion prohibition.
The charges were revealed last month, by Attorney General Ken Paxton after a months-long probe into Waller, Cypress, Spring, and northwest Houston facilities. The clinic's owner, licensed midwife Maria Margarita Rojas, and employee Jose Ley face second-degree felony abortion accusations. Rojas, Ley, and Rubildo Labanino Matos are accused of practicing medicine without a license.
Court filings reveal the investigation began in January after an anonymous whistleblower claimed the Waller clinic was selling $1,300 abortions. Investigators spied out the clinics, collected garbage for evidence, and interviewed a lady who said she underwent an abortion after Rojas wrongly told her its survival rate was less than 10%.
According to court papers, E.G. believed she was communicating with a licensed gynecologist when she consented to terminate her pregnancy.
The clinics contained abortion-inducing misoprostol, investigators found. They also discovered that Ley, a Cuban green card holder, had no Texas medical license despite posing as a doctor. While on probation, Matos, a certified nurse, reportedly let others use his credentials.
Rojas and Ley were held Tuesday on $1.4 million and $700,000 bonds. Paxton wants Rojas' Houston and Waller clinics closed by court order.
Parking lots were vacant, and neon "OPEN" signs were closed at Clinica Waller Latinoamericana in Waller and Houston.
The case highlights Greater Houston's increased enforcement after Texas's Human Life Protection Act banned most abortions.
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