Nationwide — Tierra Walker, an African American woman from San Antonio, Texas, who died at 37 years old while 20 weeks pregnant, is the subject of a lawsuit filed by her family over the medical care she received before her death. The case argues that Texas’ abortion restrictions, along with the decisions made by her healthcare providers, contributed to her death from severe preeclampsia in December 2024. Her family filed the lawsuit in Bexar County District Court against state officials, University Health, and several medical providers.
Walker discovered she was pregnant in September 2024 after going to an emergency room. At the time, she was already dealing with high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and asthma. She had also experienced preeclampsia during an earlier pregnancy with twins three years before, which ended in a stillbirth. Her family said she had been working to improve her health and had begun losing weight while getting her blood pressure under control. Her health later became more difficult to manage as she experienced seizures, nausea, vomiting, and pain. She spent much of October hospitalized while doctors investigated her symptoms.
According to CBS News, the lawsuit states how Walker and her relatives became increasingly worried that the pregnancy was putting her life at risk. Her attorneys say she asked about an abortion at another hospital on Oct. 12 and later made the same request at University Health on Oct. 30, when she was about 11 weeks pregnant. The family alleges that medical staff did not offer an abortion or suggest that she seek treatment outside Texas. Instead, they say staff repeatedly focused on the health of the fetus and told them that “nothing is wrong with the baby.” Two doctors later documented that Walker faced a high risk of death, but she was discharged and eventually had to return to the hospital.
Walker made her final emergency room visit on Dec. 27. Doctors diagnosed her with preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure and can lead to seizures, organ damage, and death. Her attorneys say she was sent home that night even though her condition posed serious risks. The lawsuit also points to her discharge paperwork, which stated that delivery could be the best treatment for her condition. A few days later, her teenage son found her unresponsive at home on his 15th birthday. An autopsy found that she died from hypertensive cardiovascular disease and preeclampsia. It also showed that she had an enlarged heart, severe fluid buildup in her lungs, and kidney damage.
The lawsuit names Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, several doctors and other officials. Walker’s family argues that the state’s near-total abortion ban created a climate of fear that made doctors reluctant to provide an abortion even when they believed a pregnancy could threaten a patient’s life. Paxton’s office did not respond to CBS News’ request for comment. University Health said it could not discuss Walker’s case because of patient privacy and the pending lawsuit. The health system said it remains committed to providing timely and medically appropriate care while following applicable laws.
Texas’ near-total abortion ban took effect in 2022 and included an exception when a pregnancy threatened the mother’s life. Lawmakers later passed the Life of the Mother Act in 2025 to clarify when doctors could legally provide abortions during medical emergencies and give additional protections to physicians providing life-saving care. A survey of more than 200 Texas OB-GYNs that year found that more than two-thirds still worried about legal consequences related to abortion care, while fewer than half believed the new law would make it easier to provide care. Medical experts who reviewed parts of Walker’s case differed over whether the abortion law itself caused her death, but they raised concerns about how her severe preeclampsia was handled. The lawsuit will now examine whether the medical decisions made before her death violated her rights and contributed to the outcome.