Family Says Texas Abortion Ban Caused Woman's Death, Files Lawsuit

The family of a Texas woman named Tierra Walker has filed a lawsuit saying she died because doctors would not perform an abortion that could have saved her life. Walker was 37 years old and 20 weeks pregnant when she died in late 2024. She had a serious condition called preeclampsia, which causes dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy. Her family says Texas' strict abortion ban made doctors too afraid to help her.

The lawsuit was filed in Bexar County, Texas, and it names Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and several of Walker's doctors among those responsible. The family's lawyers say these individuals showed 'deliberate indifference' — meaning they did not care enough about Walker's suffering — and that this led to her death. Paxton is a Republican who is currently running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. His office did not respond to requests for comment.

Walker had dealt with serious health problems for many years, including obesity, high blood pressure, asthma, and Type 2 diabetes. Three years before her death, she had developed preeclampsia while pregnant with twins, and both twins were stillborn. After that loss, her health got much worse for a time. By mid-2024, however, she was doing better — her blood pressure was lower, and she was losing weight.

On September 19, 2024, Walker went to the emergency room and found out she was about eight weeks pregnant. A doctor sent her home after adjusting her blood pressure medicine, noting it was too early in the pregnancy for eclampsia to be a concern. She returned to the hospital just hours later with seizures, nausea, vomiting, and pain. She spent most of October in the hospital while doctors ran many tests.

Doctors decided her seizures were 'functional seizures,' not related to epilepsy or her pregnancy. During her long hospital stay, Walker and her family asked doctors more than once if she could have an abortion to end the pregnancy. Her lawyer says Walker first asked for an abortion on October 12 at another hospital, and asked again on October 30 at University Health. Each time, no one offered her the procedure or suggested she travel out of state to get one.

Her aunt, LaTanya Walker, said the medical staff treated her niece poorly and acted as though her symptoms were not real. 'They really treated her so bad because they thought she was crazy,' LaTanya Walker told CBS News. When the family asked for an abortion, staff kept saying, 'Your baby is fine,' without addressing Walker's worsening condition. Two doctors even noted in her medical records that she was at 'high' risk of death.

Walker's lawyers say doctors in Texas are afraid to write the word 'abortion' in a patient's chart because of the state's strict laws. In more than 6,500 pages of Walker's medical records, doctors never wrote down that she asked for an abortion, and they never offered her one. Attorney Molly Duane said doctors she has spoken with have described conversations about abortion that they chose not to document 'because of repercussions from the state.' The culture of fear, her lawyers argued, directly cost Walker her life.

Walker went to the emergency room for the last time on December 27, when she was finally diagnosed with preeclampsia. Even so, her lawyers say she was never offered an abortion, and she was sent home that night. Her own discharge papers stated that delivery — which at that stage would mean ending the pregnancy — might be the best treatment. CBS News medical expert Dr. Céline Gounder said that under medical guidelines, Walker's pregnancy should have been ended at that point, since the baby was likely too young to survive on its own.

Days after being sent home, Walker's teenage son found her unresponsive in her bed on his 15th birthday. An autopsy confirmed she died of preeclampsia and high blood pressure–related heart disease. She also had an enlarged heart, severe fluid buildup in her lungs, and kidney damage. The baby had developed normally for 20 weeks but weighed less than one pound.

Texas banned nearly all abortions in 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the ruling that had protected abortion rights for decades. The law included an exception only if a pregnancy threatened the mother's life, but doctors were fearful of being punished. In 2025, Texas updated the law to clarify when doctors can legally end a pregnancy to save a patient's life. Walker's family's lawyers said their goal is justice — and LaTanya Walker had a blunt message for Ken Paxton: 'Go to hell.'