Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced the arrests of eight more “fake doctors” in a widening crackdown on illegal abortion clinics in the Houston suburbs.
Mr. Paxton, a Republican, said Wednesday that he has indicted eight people on felony charges of practicing medicine without a license: Yaimara Hernandez Alvarez, Alina Valeron Leon, Dalia Coromoto Yanez, Yhonder Lebrun Acosta, Liunet Grandales Estrada, Gerardo Otero Aguero, Sabiel Bosch Gongora and Jose Manuel Cendan Ley.
“This cabal of abortion-loving radicals has been running illegal clinics staffed with unlicensed individuals who endangered the very people they pretended to help,” Mr. Paxton said in a statement. “Beyond being illegal, it is evil.”
The arrests are part of a widening probe into a midwife known as “Dr. Maria,” whom the state has charged with operating illegal abortion clinics in the suburban towns of Waller, Cypress, Spring and Katy.
Texas authorities arrested Maria Margarita Rojas, 48, in March. A Waller County grand jury indicted the midwife in June on 15 felony counts, including three counts of illegal performance of an abortion and 12 counts of practicing medicine without a license.
The state attorney general’s office said Wednesday that the eight individuals it arrested worked for Ms. Rojas and several are illegal immigrants.
A court order has prohibited Ms. Rojas and her associates from practicing medicine or performing abortions while the case proceeds.
The Washington Times has reached out to her lawyers for comment.
“We are looking forward to the opportunity to fight these allegations in court,” Nicole Deborde Hochglaube, an attorney representing Ms. Rojas, told Houston Public Media last month.
In March, the attorney general previously announced the arrest of Mr. Ley, 29, on charges of assisting Ms. Rojas with an illegal abortion and practicing medicine without a license as a medical assistant at Clinica Waller Latinoamericana in the city of Waller.
Mr. Paxton’s office described Mr. Ley as “a Cuban national who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was later paroled under the open borders policies enacted by the lawless Biden Administration.”
As part of the same investigation, the attorney general said 54-year-old Rubildo Labanino Matos was arrested on March 8 as he returned to the U.S. from Cuba. Mr. Matos, a nurse practitioner whose license is currently on probation with the state’s Board of Nursing, faces charges of conspiracy to practice medicine without a license.
Jose Ceja, a Houston attorney defending Mr. Ley in court, has insisted that his client is a legal resident alien.
“We look forward to vigorously challenging these accusations,” Mr. Ceja said in a March 20 statement. “For now, we urge the public to wait for all the facts and to keep an open mind. We are confident that a thorough examination of the evidence will reveal a more complete picture.”
Ms. Rojas was the first person charged under a Texas law that holds abortion providers, rather than patients, criminally liable for illegal procedures.
In late 2021, the Supreme Court allowed Texas to ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. After the high court overturned the national right to an abortion in June 2022, the state passed a stricter ban with a limited exception for the life of the mother.
Mr. Paxton’s office has prosecuted the Houston-area cases using a part of the 2021 law that authorizes him to seek civil penalties of at least $100,000 per abortion.
“These dens of fake doctors will not be allowed to operate in Texas,” Mr. Paxton said Wednesday. “Those responsible will be held accountable. I will always protect innocent life and use every tool to enforce Texas’s pro-life laws.”
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.