'Our hands are tied:' Appeals court chief justice weighs in on high-profile Texas abortion case

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Texas appeals court chief justice says a nearly 60-year-old legal precedent forced the court to overturn an injunction against a Houston-area midwife at the center of a closely watched test of Texas' abortion laws.

In a concurring opinion filed on Thursday, Chief Justice Scott Brister of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals said the problem is one "only the Texas Supreme Court can correct."

Last month, the appeals court reversed a temporary injunction against Maria Margarita Rojas and several clinics, including Clinica Latinoamericana and Houston BirthHouse. Rojas made national headlines in March 2025 when she became the first person criminally charged under Texas' near-total abortion ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

READ MORE: Houston midwife has injunction reversed, no proof she violated abortion ban, court rulese

Rojas, a midwife whose license has been suspended, was accused of providing "illegal abortions" as well as practicing medicine without a license while operating clinics in Waller, Cypress, and Spring.

The Texas Attorney General's Office also filed a civil lawsuit seeking to shut down Rojas' clinics, and a Waller County judge granted a temporary injunction that prevented them from providing medical services. Rojas' attorneys have maintained that the allegations are not true. They challenged the State's evidence and appealed.

The appeals court found that "the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the probable-cause affidavits," and without them, the opinion read, "the remaining evidence in the record does not reasonably support the State's allegations that abortions have been performed."

Now, in the newly filed opinion, Brister said the State presented substantial evidence in two 25-page affidavits from an investigator with the Attorney General's Office, including surveillance and evidence seized during searches.

Investigators reported finding oxycodone, an empty bottle of misoprostol and digital records showing payments and sign-ins for numerous young Hispanic women. The affidavits also described two women who said they received abortions and identified Rojas as the person who performed them.

Brister wrote that the evidence would otherwise have been enough to support the State's request for an injunction.

The problem, he said, is a 1968 Texas Supreme Court decision that prohibits affidavits from being used as proof at temporary-injunction hearings. Brister noted no statute or rule specifically imposes that prohibition.

Writing that "our hands are tied," Brister said the appeals court is still required to follow the precedent unless the Texas Supreme Court changes it.

Rojas has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges, which remain pending. The latest rulings apply only to the civil cases.

SEE ORIGINAL REPORT: Houston midwife indicted on 15 new felony charges in Waller County, court records show