Maria Rojas, a Houston-area midwife, was arrested in March for allegedly violating Texas’ near-total abortion ban. She was held for 10 days in the same jail where Sandra Bland died after a routine traffic stop in 2015. Rojas was able to post the exorbitant $1.4 million bail, but her phone was seized and her license was stripped — and with it her ability to make an income. She was court-ordered to wear a tracking device.
“In Texas, life is sacred. I will always do everything in my power to protect the unborn,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a leading anti-abortion advocate who recently announced his bid for a U.S. Senate seat, proudly boasted about the arrest.
But three months later, Rojas has not been formally charged with a crime — putting her in an excruciating limbo where she’s unable to make money, but forced to pay for a costly legal defense with little public evidence against her.
It’s standard practice for a criminal complaint to be filed shortly after someone is arrested. But in an unusual move, Rojas was held on an arrest warrant. Without a formal indictment or any criminal discovery from the state, Rojas can’t begin preparing her defense.
“Mrs. Rojas remains unindicted for any crime. Meanwhile, she remains under exceedingly restrictive bond conditions, and she is prohibited from doing the lawful work as a midwife she was doing before these specious allegations against her were made,” Nicole Hochglaube, Rojas’ defense attorney, told HuffPost.
