Family blames ‘merciless’ Texas abortion ban for woman’s death in new lawsuit

The family of Tierra Walker, a Texas woman who died from pregnancy complications, has filed a lawsuit targeting Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and the doctors who treated her.

The action asserts that an abortion could have saved her life and contends that the state's near-total ban on the procedure is unconstitutional.

Filed on Tuesday in a state court in San Antonio, the lawsuit states that physicians refused Walker's requests for an abortion, despite her facing a life-threatening medical emergency that qualified for an exception under Texas statutes.

Walker, who was 37 years old and 20 weeks pregnant, passed away in December 2024, two days after her final hospital visit for symptoms of preeclampsia, according to the lawsuit.

According to the court filing, preeclampsia is a dangerous condition marked by high blood pressure.

Standard care for preeclampsia involves immediate delivery or an abortion, and the complaint maintains that Walker met the legal criteria for an emergency procedure.

Instead, the suit claims she was repeatedly sent home and assured that her condition would improve.

According to the filing, Paxton and state leaders "have imposed a merciless blanket prohibition on abortion that intimidates doctors into inaction and breeds extreme fear among Texas’ medical establishment."

Beyond Paxton, the lawsuit lists as defendants the Texas Medical Board, which oversees medical licensing and issues guidance to practitioners, as well as the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and several treating physicians.

A spokesperson for the hospital declined to comment. Neither Paxton's office nor the Texas Medical Board immediately responded to requests for comment on Wednesday.

A pair of state laws enacted in 2021 ban abortion procedures once fetal cardiac activity is detected and prohibit terminations except in life-threatening medical emergencies. The statutes also contain a unique mechanism empowering private citizens to sue care providers on behalf of the state.

The legislation took effect in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, dismantling the long-standing constitutional right to abortion.

The lawsuit contends that the defendants violated Walker's constitutional right to life and breached federal mandates requiring hospitals to offer emergency treatment regardless of ability to pay.

The suit also asserts that Texas' abortion bans violate the state constitution.

Separately, on Wednesday, two Oklahoma women filed a lawsuit claiming they were forced to travel to other states to have abortions after learning their babies would not survive pregnancy. Joined by two doctors and an abortion rights group, they claim that forcing women to keep nonviable pregnancies violates their constitutional rights.