Appeals court overturns order closing Houston-area midwife clinics accused of illegal abortions 14%
By Terri Langford9% Texas Tribune9%
7/23/2026, 11:13:44 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Appeal to Authority, and Ambiguity (Equivocation), with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 14.2% saturation with 56 hits. Analysis detected 366 faulty-reasoning hits from 395 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 30.4% and a BS Rank of 14% (18,908 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 86.40% of the article peer group.
A Texas appeals court on Thursday dismissed an injunction that forced a Houston-area midwife to close her clinics, ruling that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office relied solely on an anonymous email as evidence that she violated the state's 2022 abortion ban.
Paxton's office secured the injunction last year against clinics operated by Maria Margarita Rosas.
She still faces criminal charges that she provided unlawful abortions and employed unlicensed individuals.
But the Texas 15th Court of Appeals, created three years ago by the Texas Legislature to handle major business and state civil cases, found that the trial court erred in granting the injunction because the judge relied only on affidavits from Paxton's office that didn't provide direct evidence that the violations occurred.
Justice Scott Field's opinion said the evidence submitted to support the injunction "does not reasonably support" the claim that abortions were performed at the clinics and the lower court "abused its discretion in granting the temporary injunctive relief."
Abortion is completely banned in Texas with very limited exceptions.
The appeals court, overseen by three Republican judges appointed by Gov.
Greg Abbott, did not give an opinion on whether the accusations against Rosas are valid.
Instead, it focused on the injunction that forced the clinics' closure.
A spokesperson for Paxton's office said the attorney general will appeal the court's decision to the Texas Supreme Court to "ensure clarity in temporary injunction procedure in this and other cases."
In a statement, the Center for Reproductive Rights called the appeals court ruling a "significant step" toward justice for Rojas, adding that the state has unfairly targeted her.
"The state of Texas has no case," said Jenna Hudson, the group's senior counsel.
"Maria Rojas has been an upstanding midwife who delivered babies and provided lawful care for underserved pregnant patients."
Rojas owned and operated Clinica Waller Latinoamericana in Waller, Clinica Latinoamericana Telge in Cypress, and Latinoamericana Medical Clinic in Spring, according to the attorney general's office.
Disclosure: The Center for Reproductive Rights has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors.
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This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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