Texas provided no evidence that Houston-based midwife Maria Rojas violated the state’s abortion ban, a state appeals court ruled on Thursday.

The state’s Fifteenth Court of Appeals reversed a temporary injunction order shutting down three clinics in the Northwest Houston area that the midwife owned and operated. The injunction was part of a March 2025 civil lawsuit brought by Ken Paxton, the state attorney general and a leading anti-abortion advocate, over allegations that Rojas violated the state’s near-total abortion ban. Paxton is now the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, facing Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in a close race.

“This is a real win because the state — for nearly a year and a half now — has been able to make these allegations, argue that this woman who has dedicated her life to caring for mothers and families has done something wrong,” Jenna Hudson, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told HuffPost.

Paxton’s office also brought criminal charges against Rojas last year, shortly after the attorney general announced his Senate bid. Rojas was the first person to be arrested and charged for allegedly violating the state’s near-total abortion ban, with Paxton accusing the midwife of providing illegal abortions and practicing without a medical license. Both the civil and criminal cases are ongoing, despite the injunction reversal.

The way Paxton’s office has handled the case is highly unusual, according to Hudson and several other attorneys who spoke with HuffPost. Rojas’ criminal attorneys told HuffPost last year there is little evidence against Rojas other than the 30-page affidavit filed by Paxton’s office at the time of her arrest. Rojas was arrested and held in jail for 10 days on an exorbitant $1.4 million bail. Although she was arrested in March, she wasn’t indicted for another three months. She was also held in jail at the time of her injunction hearing for her civil suit.

“It’s incredibly unusual. This is not the way that it’s supposed to work,” Hudson said. “That is one of the many reasons that it’s clear to us this is just part of a political attack. The state is so desperate to find someone to accuse of having violated the abortion ban that it conducted a shoddy investigation, and it targeted this trusted community midwife without any evidence.”

A spokesperson for Paxton’s office told HuffPost on Friday that the attorney general’s office will seek review of the appellate court ruling from the Texas Supreme Court.

“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,” the spokesperson said.

The appeals court ruled the state could not rely on an affidavit to secure an injunction, and instead would need to present evidence that is subject to cross-examination. In typical circumstances, Hudson said, the state could have called the Medicaid investigator who wrote the affidavit, which would have allowed Rojas’ attorneys to cross-examine the investigator and his findings. But instead, the state only presented a piece of paper — the affidavit — which didn’t give Rojas’ attorneys any opportunity to ask questions or push back on the allegations.

Paxton’s office could ask the Supreme Court to allow the injunction to continue with just an affidavit or ask to continue the injunction and present evidence that can be cross-examined.

Even with this victory, Hudson said it will be nearly impossible for Rojas to reopen the three clinics that were shut down due to the injunction. Rojas’ midwifery license has been suspended pending the outcome of her criminal case, and her movements are restricted because she is court-ordered to wear an ankle monitor. She also had to give up the leases on the clinics because she couldn’t afford to pay them while not working.

“The damage is done,” Hudson said.

The clinics offered care to underserved communities outside of Houston, primarily Spanish-speaking and low-income. Rojas was trained as an OB-GYN in her home country of Peru, but has been licensed in midwifery for over 15 years in the U.S., attending over 700 births.

Despite the fact that both criminal and civil cases will continue, Hudson underscored that this is still a victory for Rojas and other providers in the state. “This moment where an appellate court has definitively said that the state has not presented any evidence that she did something wrong, and therefore improperly received this order that shut down her clinics is a real moment to be celebrated,” Hudson said.

“It shows that the state cannot just walk into court and be handed a win,” she added. “The state is not above the law. It cannot conduct a shoddy investigation without any evidence.”

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