Family of Texas woman who died during pregnancy sues over abortion ban

San Antonio, United States. The family of Tierra Walker, a 37-year-old Texas woman who died from a pregnancy-related condition in December 2024, has sued Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, state regulators and doctors who treated her. The lawsuit alleges that an abortion could have saved her life and that Texas’ near-total abortion ban is unconstitutional.

Lawsuit allegations

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in state court in San Antonio. Walker’s family claims that doctors refused her requests for an abortion despite a medical emergency that qualified for an exception under Texas abortion laws.

Walker was 20 weeks pregnant when she died, two days after her final hospital visit for symptoms of preeclampsia, according to the lawsuit. Preeclampsia is a potentially fatal pregnancy complication marked by high blood pressure.

The Mayo Clinic says treatment for severe preeclampsia often involves immediate delivery of the baby. The lawsuit states that Walker qualified for an emergency abortion under Texas law but was repeatedly told that her condition would improve and was sent home instead.

Defendants and responses

The complaint alleges that Paxton and other state officials “have imposed a merciless blanket prohibition on abortion that intimidates doctors into inaction and breeds extreme fear among Texas’ medical establishment.”

The defendants include Paxton, the Texas Medical Board, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and several doctors who treated Walker. The Texas Medical Board regulates medical practice in the state and issues guidance to medical professionals.

A hospital spokesperson declined to comment. Paxton’s office and the Texas Medical Board did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

Related Oklahoma case

Separately, two Oklahoma women filed a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging that they were forced to travel to other states for abortions after learning their babies would not survive pregnancy.

The women, joined by two doctors and an abortion rights group, argue that requiring women to continue nonviable pregnancies violates their constitutional rights.

Texas abortion laws

Two Texas laws enacted in 2021 prohibit performing or inducing an abortion, with an exception for life-threatening medical emergencies, and bar providers from performing abortions if a fetus has detectable cardiac activity.

A provision of the Texas abortion ban also allows private citizens to sue abortion providers on behalf of the state. The laws took effect in 2022 after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the decision that had established a constitutional right to abortion.