San Antonio, Texas – Tierra Walker's family has sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others over her death. The 37-year-old mother, who was 20 weeks pregnant, died two days after she was sent home with a diagnosis of preeclampsia.
The complaint filed Tuesday in Bexar County District Court in San Antonio, Texas, alleges that Texas' near-total abortion ban led to Tierra Walker's preventable death.
Her family is suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and others for her death, as MSN reported.
Per the suit, Walker's doctors failed to provide lifesaving medical care, and repeated interference by Paxton and Texas Medical Board executive director Stephen Brint Carlton effectively rendered the state's medical emergency exception nonexistent.
"Tierra Walker was 37 years old. She was a mother, a dental assistant, and an educator who had been named 'Teacher of the Year,'" Abortion in America, an abortion rights organization, wrote on social media.
Walker knew the risks associated with preeclampsia, as "She'd already had one high-risk pregnancy that resulted in stillbirth of twins."
On December 27, 2024, at 20 weeks pregnant, Walker was diagnosed with preeclampsia – a serious pregnancy-related blood pressure condition. Her medical records, per the complaint, state that delivering the baby may be the best treatment for the condition.
Walker was deemed stable enough to be released with a hypertension medication prescription. Two days later, Walker's 15-year-old son found her unresponsive in her bed.
Family blames Texas' abortion ban for Tierra Walker's death
In 2021, the state of Texas implemented an abortion ban after six weeks – before most women know they are pregnant.
This then became a ban on all abortions, with an exception for life-threatening situations, after Roe vs. Wade was overturned in 2022.
"[Tierra] had a constitutionally protected right to her own life that was robbed by her state," said Molly Duane, an attorney from Abortion in America's litigation team who is also representing Walker's family.
The lawsuit seeks to find Texas' abortion ban unconstitutional and recover financial damages for Walker's death.
"This petition includes legal claims against every state actor who played a role in Ms. Walker's preventable death, as there must be at least one door through which the courthouse is open," the complaint reads.
"Both the Texas Constitution and the Federal Constitution prohibit state actors from killing their citizens. If that means that Texas's abortion bans or the Texas Torts Claims Act – or both – are unconstitutional, so be it."
Duane says Walker isn't the only pregnant person who has died as a result of being denied abortion care.
In 2021, doctors delayed treating 28-year-old Josseli Barnica's miscarriage, citing the state's anti-abortion law. Per a ProPublica investigation, this wait exposed Barnica's uterus to bacteria, and the young mother died three days later due to an infection.