Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced the arrests of a woman and man for allegedly operating an illegal abortion network.
“Individuals killing unborn babies by performing illegal abortions in Texas will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and I will not rest until justice is served,” Paxton said in a press release. “I will continue to fight to protect life and work to ensure that anyone guilty of violating our state’s pro-life laws is held accountable.”
On March 17 Paxton announced the arrest of 48-year-old Maria Margarita Rojas — known as “Dr. Maria” — for “providing illegal abortions and illegally operating a network of clinics” near northwest Houston. The next day, he announced the arrest of 29-year-old Jose Manuel Cendan Ley for “the unlawful performance of an abortion and the unlicensed practice of medicine.” Rojas also faces charges for “practicing medicine without a license.”
The attorney general’s Healthcare Program Enforcement Division also “filed for a temporary restraining order to shut down Rojas’s network of clinics to prevent further illegal activity,” according to the release.
Murdering an unborn child through abortion is a second-degree felony in Texas. Rojas faces two charges for “prohibited dismemberment abortion” and two charges for “practicing medicine in violation of subtitle,” according to the Waller County Sheriff’s Office. Her bond was set at $500,000 for each abortion charge and $200,000 for each unlicensed practice charge.
Ley is a Cuban national who faces one charge for “prohibited dismemberment abortion” with a bond of $500,000 and another for “practicing medicine in violation of subtitle” with a bond of $200,000, according to the sheriff’s office. According to the release, he “performed illegal medical procedures” at one of Rojas’ facilities and assisted her with “at least one illegal abortion.” Ley is an illegal who entered America in 2022 and got parole through the “open borders policies” of then-President Joe Biden’s administration.
Authorities also arrested 54-year-old Rubildo Labanino Matos “[i]n connection to this investigation … upon returning to the U.S. from Cuba” earlier this month, according to the release. He faces charges for “conspiracy to practice medicine without a license.”
Paxton’s office found Rojas “owned and operated multiple clinics” — Clinica Latinoamericana Telge in Cypress, Latinoamericana Medical Clinic in Spring, and Clinica Waller Latinoamericana in Waller (where Ley worked). According to the release, the facilities “unlawfully employed unlicensed individuals who falsely presented themselves as licensed,” and Rojas “performed illegal abortion procedures” at the facilities.
The facilities are part of the Clinicas Latinoamericanas network, whose website is mostly in Spanish and which its boasts patients do not need medical insurance. Its services include ultrasounds and “procedures and minor surgery.” East of the facilities lies the infamous Colony Ridge development, which The Daily Wire’s Spencer Lindquist reported is a massive project catered to illegals that has become a hub for crime and violence.
“Texas law holds abortion providers — not patients — criminally responsible for unlawful procedures,” the release said.
In December Texas sued New York-based Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine founder Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter for her role in prescribing an abortion pill to a 20-year-old Texas woman who went to the hospital with hemorrhaging complications. In February a Texas judge ordered Carpenter to pay more than 100,000 in fines. A Louisiana grand jury also indicted Carpenter in January for “criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs,” as she allegedly prescribed an abortion pill online to someone in the state.
While states like New York are shielding online abortionists from legal consequences, Texas passed legislation to protect unborn children — and in 2024, it recorded just 54 total abortions and zero elective abortions.
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx. Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.
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