Texas family sues Attorney General Ken Paxton and doctors over death of pregnant woman
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The relatives of a 37-year-old woman who died from preeclampsia have filed a lawsuit alleging that Texas’s near-total abortion ban prevented a life-saving procedure and violated constitutional rights.
A Texas family has filed a civil suit in San Antonio, accusing Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Texas Medical Board, a university health system and several physicians of denying an emergency abortion that they say could have saved the life of 37-year-old Tierra Walker, who was 20 weeks pregnant when she died in December 2024. The complaint alleges that Walker, who suffered severe preeclampsia, was sent home despite her condition meeting the state’s emergency-exception criteria for abortion, and that the defendants’ actions violated her constitutional right to life and federal emergency-care statutes.
The lawsuit contends that Texas’s 2021 abortion restrictions, which prohibit most abortions and allow private citizens to sue providers, create a “blanket prohibition” that discourages doctors from acting in medical emergencies. The filing also claims the state’s laws conflict with both the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution.
"The defendants have imposed a merciless blanket prohibition on abortion that intimidates doctors into inaction and breeds extreme fear among Texas’ medical establishment," the complaint states.
A hospital spokesperson declined to comment, and Paxton’s office and the Texas Medical Board have not responded to requests for comment. The case joins other recent lawsuits in the region, including a separate action by two Oklahoma women who allege that being forced to carry non-viable pregnancies violates their constitutional rights.