Family Sues Texas Officials Over Woman's Death Linked to Abortion Ban

The family of Tierra Walker, a 37-year-old San Antonio woman who died in December 2024 while 20 weeks pregnant, has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, state medical officials, and her doctors. The lawsuit, filed in Bexar County District Court, alleges that Texas's near-total abortion ban prevented medical providers from giving Walker a potentially lifesaving abortion, leading to her death from preeclampsia. Walker, who had a history of chronic health conditions including diabetes, hypertension, and a prior case of preeclampsia that resulted in a stillbirth, began experiencing severe symptoms such as seizures, blood clots, and dangerously high blood pressure early in her 2024 pregnancy. According to the lawsuit, she and her family repeatedly asked doctors for an abortion, but were denied. Medical staff allegedly told her "your baby is fine" and did not document the abortion requests in her records. The lawsuit names Paxton and Stephen Brint Carlton, executive director of the Texas Medical Board, as defendants, claiming they imposed a "merciless blanket prohibition on abortion" that intimidated doctors into inaction.