This article has been updated since publication to include comment from the Attorney General’s Office.
A Texas appellate court has reversed a temporary injunction blocking a group of Houston-area clinics allegedly operating as an abortion network from performing elective abortions and other services as litigation continued.
This decision comes from the Fifteenth Court of Appeals in Austin, which Attorney General Ken Paxton has publicly feuded with before.
Background
In 2025, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) received an anonymous email alleging that illegal abortions had been performed at a medical clinic managed by Maria Rojas, a licensed midwife, and at a group of related clinics managed by Rojas.
The OAG’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit began an investigation that ultimately led to the arrest of Rojas and search warrants for the clinics. The warrants were supported by probable-cause affidavits by the lead investigator, Lieutenant Edward Wilkerson. As a result, Rojas was arrested and criminal proceedings against her remain ongoing.
Multiple other individuals were subsequently arrested in the context of the OAG’s investigation into this alleged abortion network, including several foreign nationals practicing medicine without a license.
Three days after Rojas’ arrest, the OAG filed a civil suit seeking civil penalties and temporary and permanent injunctions based on allegations that Rojas and the clinics she managed violated the Texas Human Life Protection Act “by performing or attempting to perform abortions” and violated the Texas Medical Practice Act “by practicing medicine without a license.”
During trial court proceedings, the State presented the arrest warrants and the probable-cause affidavits from the criminal case against Rojas. The court admitted this evidence over the objections of the defendants—though it excluded hearsay witness statements and the anonymous email complaint.
Rojas pleaded the Fifth in regard to all substantive questions, and neither Rojas nor the clinics presented any evidence of their own.
On March 27, 2025, Waller County District Court Judge Gary Chaney issued a temporary injunction blocking the defendants “from performing elective abortions or providing medical services” while the litigation proceeds.
Judge Chaney concluded that the State was likely to prevail on the merits and that it was in the public interest to restrain and prevent the defendants from violating Texas abortion laws in the interim.
“The State of Texas has a sovereign interest in the enforcement of its own laws, any injury to which is irreparable, and the termination of unborn life is also necessarily irreparable,” wrote Judge Chaney.
Defendants appealed the injunction to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals in Austin, seeking to have it reversed. They argued that Judge Chaney was wrong to admit Lieutenant Wilkerson’s affidavit as evidence, the only evidence that served as the basis for his decision, as it was not properly authenticated and contained hearsay.
The State argued that the warrants were authenticated when signed by the trial court judge and that Texas law provides an exception to the hearsay rule for certain public records. After considering these arguments, Judge Chaney decided they were admissible.
The Ruling
On Thursday, the Fifteenth Court agreed with the defendants, reversing Judge Chaney’s temporary injunction and remanding the case to proceed on the merits.
This means that Rojas and the clinics are no longer blocked from “performing elective abortions or providing medical services” as litigation continues at the district court level.
The OAG is expected to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of Texas.
“Attorney General Paxton has secured bond conditions that protect Texas women from Maria Rojas’ illegal abortion scheme, which evidence shows included providing unqualified medical advice that led to vulnerable women aborting their babies,” said a spokesperson from the OAG. “To further ensure clarity in temporary injunction procedure in this and other cases, Attorney General Paxton intends to petition for review in the Texas Supreme Court.”
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals was created by Senate Bill 1045 during the 88th Legislature in 2023, officially opening on September 1, 2024 as a new statewide civil appellate court—and it was strongly backed by Texans for Lawsuit Reform.
Chief Justice Scott Brister, Justice Scott Field, and Justice April Farris were all appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott. Since the Fifteenth Court’s creation, Attorney General Ken Paxton has publicly criticized the justices over various decisions.
Last year, Paxton had sued Robert “Beto” O’Rourke for allegedly raising money unlawfully to help Democrat lawmakers flee the state and delay a vote on Texas’ newly redistricted congressional map. When the Fifteenth Court paused a lower court discovery order, Paxton slammed the justices on X.
“What we are witnessing in Texas right now is a constitutional crisis being orchestrated by activist judges on the Beto-loving Fifteenth Court of Appeals,” wrote Paxton. “Beto said, ‘f*** the rules,’ and these unelected justices—Scott Brister, Scott Field, and April Farris—are helping him do just that with his unlawful bribery scheme.”
“What’s worse is that the Texas Supreme Court just made a ruling refusing to stop the appeals court’s insane decision to help Beto,” he continued. “We must stop Beto from buying off our politicians and the judicial activism allowing it to happen.”
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