Texas Illegal Abortion Investigation Results in Third Arrest

A third medical professional was arrested in an investigation into illegal abortions in Texas, the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced Tuesday.

Rubildo Labanino Matos, a 54 year-old nurse practitioner whose license is currently on probation, was picked up on March 8 and charged with conspiracy to practice medicine without a license, Paxton said.

Matos was released from jail the next day after posting $250,000 bail, jail records show.

Paxton on Monday announced the arrest of Maria Margarita Rojas, a 59 year-old midwife in the Houston area. She faces two counts of performing an illegal abortion, a second degree felony, and two counts of practicing medicine without a license, a third degree felony.

Jose Manuel Cendan Ley, a 29 year-old medical assistant who Paxton says assisted Rojas in performing an abortion, was also arrested and charged with the same two offenses as Rojas.

Ley, of Cuba, entered the US illegally in 2022 and was later paroled, Paxton said.

A judge set Rojas’ bail at $1.4 million and Ley’s at $700,000. Both were in jail Tuesday morning, according to Officer Josh Power of the Waller County Sheriff’s Office.

Rojas and Ley didn’t request a court-appointed lawyer.

The arrests appear to be the first in Texas under the state’s post-Roe abortion laws that prohibit pregnancy terminations except in limited circumstances to protect the health of the mother.

The law doesn’t provide for criminal liability against a patient who gets an abortion.

Paxton for the most part can’t take it upon himself to prosecute criminal offenses. Waller County District Attorney Sean Whittmore (R), a Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appointee who previously tried cases as an attorney in Paxton’s office, referred the investigation to Paxton.

Paxton’s lawyers are expected to prosecute the case going forward.