Family's lawsuit says San Antonio woman died due to abortion ban
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The family of a San Antonio woman who died from pregnancy complications is suing local officials and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alleging the state's abortion ban is unconstitutional.
The big picture: Tierra Walker died in December 2024 at age 37 after she was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a pregnancy-related disorder marked by high blood pressure. She had spent months in and out of the hospital with worsening conditions. The lawsuit alleges she was denied an abortion.
The latest: Walker's aunt, LaTanya Walker, filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of Tierra Walker's teenage son, husband and mother. They are represented by Amplify Legal, the litigation arm of nonprofit Abortion in America.
- The suit seeks an unspecified amount of money for the Walker family.
- The other defendants are University Health, UT Health Science Center San Antonio, Texas Medical Board (TMB) executive director Stephen Brint Carlton, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales and three doctors.
A spokesperson for University Health declined to comment on the case.
- "In general, our clinicians make patient care decisions based on each patient's clinical condition, applicable medical standards and legal requirements," spokesperson Shelley Kofler tells Axios. "We take concerns about patient care seriously and review them through appropriate internal clinical and quality processes."
- Spokespeople for the UT Health Science Center San Antonio and the TMB declined to comment to Axios.
- Paxton's office and Gonzales' office did not respond to requests for comment.
Context: The state's abortion ban includes exemptions when the life or health of the pregnant patient is at risk. But it has led to confusion and fear among many doctors and patients about when the exemption applies, and that "intimidates doctors into inaction," the lawsuit alleges.
- The Texas Medical Board in June 2024 — six months before Walker's death — issued guidance saying Texas doctors don't need to wait until a pregnant person is at risk of death to provide them an abortion.
- But the board declined to provide a list of conditions that would permit an abortion.
What they're saying: "Tierra Walker is proof that there is no exception, because if she did not qualify — if even her doctors were too scared to act — then the medical emergency exception is nothing more than words on a page," Molly Duane, litigation director with Amplify Legal, told reporters Wednesday.
- "Tierra was not only a niece to me, she was a daughter too," LaTanya Walker, who helped raise Tierra, said. "She was a loving mother, courageous woman, a go-getter — and she died."
Zoom in: Walker, a Black woman who lived on San Antonio's East Side with her husband and son, died while she was four months pregnant, per the lawsuit. She had been sent home from the hospital two days earlier.
- During those four months, she experienced seizures, blood clots and other complications. She "repeatedly asked for an abortion to save her life," the lawsuit states, but was told that her baby was fine.
- Tierra Walker was too sick to leave the state for an abortion, Duane said.
- She had several preexisting conditions — including a seizure disorder and type 2 diabetes — and had experienced difficulties in a 2021 pregnancy that resulted in the deaths of unborn twins.
Zoom out: Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, per federal figures.
Go deeper: The investigative newsroom ProPublica wrote about Tierra Walker last year.