The family of Tierra Walker, who died from pre-eclampsia at the age of 37 during her 20th week of pregnancy, has filed a lawsuit in Texas, claiming they were denied a potentially life-saving abortion because her health rapidly deteriorated.
Lawyers for Walker’s family filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Bexar County District Court accusing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, several of her doctors, and others of “deliberate indifference, discrimination, and medical abuse that ultimately led to her horrific and tragic death in 2024.” Preeclampsia is severe pregnancy-induced hypertension that can lead to death.
Walker’s family alleges that Paxton, a Republican who is currently running for the U.S. Senate, and Stephen Brint Carleton, executive director of the Texas Medical Board, imposed a “total and blanket ban” on abortions and deprived Walker of her right to life by failing to provide life-saving treatment to doctors.
Paxton has been an outspoken defender of Texas’ near-total abortion ban. he has filed a lawsuit against doctors and organizations that ship abortion pills into Texas from outside the state. His office did not respond to CBS News’ requests for comment.
“The Texas political and medical establishment not only failed on every front, but actively harmed Ms. Walker,” the complaint alleges.
“Tierra Walker died because medical personnel refused to give her the medical treatment that could have saved her life,” Michelle Maloney, an attorney representing her family, told CBS News. She said they refused because of the “incalculable culture of fear” surrounding abortion in Texas.
First reported by ProPublica Regarding the circumstances of Walker’s death.
CBS News has contacted all parties involved in the lawsuit. The university said in a statement that it could not comment on individual patients or lawsuits, but that “our priority is to provide medically appropriate and timely care while protecting patient privacy and complying with all applicable laws and regulations.”
Walker learned she was eight weeks pregnant during a visit to the emergency room on September 19, 2024.
She had struggled for years with chronic health problems, including obesity, high blood pressure, asthma and type 2 diabetes, but was working to regain her health. Three years earlier, she developed pre-eclampsia while pregnant with twins, which led to their stillbirth and “put her on a health spiral,” according to the complaint.
By mid-2024, her health had improved, her blood pressure lowered and she lost weight thanks to the GLP-1 drug.
An emergency room doctor noted in Walker’s medical records that she was “too early in the pregnancy to cause eclampsia,” and after adjusting her blood pressure medication to account for the pregnancy, she was sent home.
She returned to the hospital several hours later because she continued to experience seizures, nausea, vomiting, and pain. Her medical records state that her seizures may have been caused by several factors, including pregnancy-related nausea, anxiety, and stress.
She was hospitalized for much of October, and medical records show she underwent extensive testing for seizures, which doctors noted were non-epileptic “functional seizures” unrelated to pregnancy or preeclampsia.
Her records show that she was surrounded by her family for most of her hospital stay and was repeatedly referred to mental health and psychiatric treatment for her anxiety.
“They treated her really badly because they thought she was crazy,” her aunt, LaTanya Walker, told CBS News. “One day they told me to go tell her husband, ‘Can you please go tell her this is all in her head?'”
During an extended hospital stay in October, Walker and her family told medical staff that the pregnancy would kill her and asked if they could terminate the pregnancy, according to the complaint.
Maloney said Tierra Walker first sought an abortion at another hospital on Oct. 12, then at the University of Health on Oct. 30, about 11 weeks into her pregnancy.
“Despite the obvious danger to her life from continuing the pregnancy, no staff at the University of Health advised Ms. Walker about the possibility of an abortion as a life-saving treatment, suggested this treatment, or suggested leaving the state. Instead, hospital staff continued to insist that ‘there was nothing wrong with the baby’ and continued to deny her the care she needed on that basis,” the complaint alleges.
In late October and early November, two doctors noted in Walker’s medical records that she was at “high” risk of dying.
She was still discharged from the hospital, but was readmitted a few days later.
“I begged them over and over again to abort her, and they told me…’It’s her, but it’s not the baby,'” LaTanya Walker said.
The lawsuit alleges that hospital staff responded to Walker’s request for an abortion by saying, “The baby is fine,” while “ignoring Walker’s worsening health.”
In a statement to CBS News, the Texas Medical Board said that under current rules, “when dealing with conditions that are urgent or emergent, physicians do not have to wait until the mother’s life is in immediate jeopardy or a major bodily function is in immediate jeopardy to provide necessary medical care,” noting that in some circumstances, that treatment “may include termination of the pregnancy.”
LaTanya Walker said her niece wanted to have a baby, but she was also thinking about her son, JJ, who was 14 at the time.
“She had to be here for JJ,” LaTanya Walker said, recalling a conversation she had with her niece at the hospital.
family photo 
LaTanya Walker said she remembered her niece using the word “abortion” when asking a doctor to terminate her pregnancy. But the 6,500 pages of medical records reviewed by CBS News showed no record of Walker seeking an abortion, nor did her doctor offer her one.
“They’re going to hide whatever they need to hide,” LaTanya Walker argued.
Molly Duane, another attorney representing the Walker family, told CBS News that health care workers in Texas are “scared to even write that word on their medical records.”
“We reviewed dozens of lawsuits,” Duane said. “And what’s clear is that doctors are afraid to even put that word in their medical records, so it’s not there.”
In depositions with doctors involved in other cases, Maloney described conversations she had with clients about abortions, but said she did not document them “due to influence from the state.”
LaTanya Walker said she and her niece didn’t discuss traveling to another state for surgery, but she did consider ordering abortion pills online. Although her niece was open to the idea, LaTanya Walker said she was reluctant to order it for her niece in case of complications.
“Then it would have been something to me,” she said.
texas state law prohibit Almost all abortions went into effect in 2022, shortly after the Supreme Court overturned it. Roe vs. Wade. The law had an exception in cases where the pregnancy threatened the mother’s life. Those found guilty of providing abortions face up to 99 years in prison, fines, and loss of medical license.
Enacted by Texas in 2025 A law aimed at clarifying Medical exemption to near-total ban after treatment ProPublica investigation Several pregnant women in the state were found to have died due to delays in care. The changes include clarifying legal medical emergency exceptions and strengthening legal protections for medical professionals who provide life-saving abortions.
A spokesperson for Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzalez, who is named as a defendant in the case, told CBS News that Gonzalez has not prosecuted any abortion cases and that his office “carefully reviews all cases brought by law enforcement to ensure that our evaluations are based on fairness and justice and make informed charging decisions.”
Walker last returned to the emergency room on Dec. 27, when she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, according to medical records. Despite the potentially fatal complications, her lawyers said she was never offered an abortion and was discharged by doctors later that night.
The lawsuit noted that her discharge papers from Dec. 27 stated that an abortion at that stage may be the best treatment for preeclampsia.
“According to medical guidelines, she should have been hospitalized and given medication to stabilize her condition and prevent seizures,” explained Dr. Celine Gounder, medical correspondent for CBS News and public health editor for KFF Health News. Based on these guidelines, Gounder said, “her pregnancy should have been terminated because her baby was likely too young to survive. Instead, she was sent home.”
A few days later, Walker’s teenage son found her unresponsive in her bed. It was his 15th birthday.
An autopsy determined that Walker died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pre-eclampsia. She also had an enlarged heart, as well as severe fluid buildup in her lungs and kidney damage. Doctors found that the fetus was developing normally through the 20th week of pregnancy and weighed less than 1 pound.
“Ms. Walker had been seeking an abortion for months because she did not believe she would survive the pregnancy, even if it had been wanted. Sadly, she was right. An abortion at any point during the pregnancy would have saved her life,” the lawsuit alleges.
Mr. Maloney and Mr. Duane denied that the timing of the lawsuit was political. Paxton is running Republicans hope to maintain majority control in Texas’ competitive Senate race. Lawyers for the Walker family said the two-year statute of limitations is expected to expire in the next few days.
“What he’s doing in office is taking advantage of his role as attorney general and abusing it to fuel a culture of fear,” Duane said. “Our civil rights laws provide that each public official can be held personally liable if their actions result in the death of a member of the public, and that is what happened in this case.”
Asked about her message to Paxton, LaTanya Walker had a pointed answer.
“Honestly, go to hell,” she said.