<p>The family of a Texas woman who died from pregnancy complications after being denied an abortion is suing Attorney General Ken Paxton for his enforcement of the state's abortion restrictions.</p>
<p>Tierra Walker, a 37-year-old mother, died of preeclampsia at approximately 20 weeks pregnant in late 2024. Her family claims her death was preventable had she been allowed to have an abortion when her symptoms first appeared, despite Texas's prohibition on the procedure.</p>
<p>Walker’s family filed a wrongful death suit on Wednesday against her medical team at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, as well as Paxton, who is a Republican Senate candidate in Texas, for his role in enforcing the abortion statute.</p>
<p>Paxton has supported the law, which prohibits elective abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically at six weeks of pregnancy, except when the pregnancy threatens the mother's life.</p>
<p>The Walker family argues that the strictness of the law created an environment where doctors were hesitant to offer Walker an abortion as her condition deteriorated.</p>
<p>The lawsuit accuses Paxton and Texas Medical Board director Stephen Carlton of imposing a prohibition on abortion that intimidates doctors and creates fear within Texas's medical community.</p>
<p>“At every turn, Texas’s political and medical establishments not only failed but actively harmed Ms. Walker,” the lawsuit alleges.</p>
<p>The Washington Examiner contacted Paxton’s campaign for comment regarding the lawsuit.</p>
<h2>What happened to Tierra Walker?</h2>
<p>Walker discovered she was five weeks pregnant during an emergency room visit in mid-September 2024. Three years earlier, she had developed preeclampsia during a pregnancy with twins, resulting in a stillbirth.</p>
<p>Before her recent pregnancy, Walker was managing her obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure with the help of a GLP-1 medication.</p>
<p>In September 2024, Walker was sent home on adjusted blood pressure medication, but after experiencing several seizure episodes early in her pregnancy, she requested an abortion, which was denied.</p>
<p>Walker was hospitalized multiple times during her pregnancy, including a lengthy stay for observation. On December 27, 2024, she was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with preeclampsia but was discharged the following day.</p>
<p>Days later, Walker was found unresponsive at home by her 15-year-old son. An autopsy cited preeclampsia as a cause of death, along with an enlarged heart, fluid in her lungs, and kidney damage.</p>
<h2>What do medical professionals say about her case?</h2>
<p>Multiple physicians not affiliated with Walker’s care team have stated that her death from preeclampsia should not have occurred.</p>
<p>ProPublica provided a summary of Walker’s medical records to over a dozen OB-GYNs, who noted that with her persistently high blood pressure, standard medical practice would have involved advising her of the serious health risks of continuing the pregnancy. Some referred to her condition as a “ticking time bomb.”</p>
<p>Dr. Christina Francis, head of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, indicated that Walker’s death was “likely preventable” and that she “would likely still be alive today” if she had been stabilized immediately instead of being sent home.</p>
<h2>Did Walker need an abortion at 20 weeks pregnant?</h2>
<p>If Walker’s care team had opted to deliver her child at 20 weeks of gestation, it would not have constituted an abortion, according to Francis.</p>
<p>Francis explained that there is a significant difference between a risky delivery where the child may not survive and terminating a pregnancy while the fetus is still in the womb.</p>
<p>“When faced with a serious complication, such as those faced by Tierra Walker, physicians can intervene to protect the mother’s life by delivering the baby, even when the child’s life expectancy is uncertain due to prematurity,” Francis stated.</p>
<p>Although rare, there have been cases where infants have survived being born at 21 weeks, requiring extensive neonatal care. However, being born prematurely increases the risk of chronic conditions such as lung disease and cognitive impairment.</p>
<p>Francis noted that in some cases, early delivery “preserves the possibility of neonatal survival while also protecting the life of the mother.”</p>
<h2>Will the lawsuit affect Paxton’s Senate campaign?</h2>
<p>Attorneys for the Walker family have stated that the lawsuit is not intended to harm Paxton’s campaign, but his strong defense of the state’s anti-abortion law may alienate swing voters who prefer fewer restrictions in severe cases like Walker’s.</p>
<p>As attorney general, Paxton has initiated several lawsuits against healthcare providers and organizations that ship the abortion pill mifepristone into Texas from out of state in violation of state law. He has received endorsements from multiple anti-abortion groups, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and the National Right to Life Committee.</p>
<p>Polling indicates that a significant majority of Texans support including more explicit exceptions to the state’s abortion law for cases where the mother’s physical health is at risk but not yet fatal.</p>
<p>A 2025 survey from the University of Houston found that 82% of Texas voters supported allowing an abortion “to preserve the woman’s physical health,” which is more lenient than the current law requiring the mother’s life to be at risk.</p>
<p>In a separate poll conducted in 2024 by the University of Texas at Austin, 85% of Texans supported legal access to abortion if the mother’s health is seriously endangered.</p>