Before she became a statistic in America’s compounding women’s reproductive rights crisis, 37-year-old Tierra Walker was a vibrant member of her tight-knit San Antonio family. Her life was cut short and her family says a Texas medical establishment could have prevented her untimely death. Tierra Walker died at home in San Antonio two days after being discharged from University Hospital (part of the University Health System / UT Health San Antonio) in December 2024. Walker’s family proclaim that Tierra’s medical staff were immobilized by fear and a merciless state abortion ban. And they have boldly filed a lawsuit against Texas attorney general Ken Paxton (among others) to seek justice.

The lawsuit — filed Tuesday, September 15 by Walker’s family — claims doctors refused her repeated requests for an abortion even though she was experiencing a medical emergency. Walker was in the early stages of her pregnancy in the fall of 2024 when she turned to San Antonio’s University of Texas Health Science Center for help. What should have been a joyful time of anticipation quickly became a nightmare.

According to heartbreaking court documents, Walker spent her pregnancy battling multiple health concerns, including debilitating seizures, dangerous blood clots, and multiple hypertensive episodes. She also had a history of asthma and diabetes. Tragically, this mom was no stranger to these warning signs. In 2021, she suffered from preeclampsia—a life-threatening high-blood-pressure condition—which led to the devastating stillbirth of her twins. Preeclampsia disproportionately affects Black women, who face a 60% higher rate of the condition compared to White women in the United States and is a significant part of the nation’s Black maternal health crisis.

Walker knew her body, and she knew her skyrocketing blood pressure meant the condition had returned. Yet, despite advocating for herself, the lawsuit reveals a systemic failure: doctors wouldn’t officially diagnose her with preeclampsia because the condition traditionally isn’t recognized until after the 20-week mark. It is a devastating reminder of how the medical system continues to fail Black mothers when they voice their pain.

The near-total ban on abortion in Texas states that women cannot have an abortion as soon as fetal cardiac activity is detected, which can be as early as five weeks. This is before most women even know they’re pregnant. In addition, the extreme law gives zero exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors and other medical professionals who violate the state’s abortion ban face up to 99 years in prison, creating a culture of fear that leaves healthcare pros hesitant to intervene.

Sadly, Walker became a casualty of this medical travesty. Court documents detail a tragic sequence where she was denied a life-saving abortion and sent home multiple times while her condition worsened. She died that December at 20 weeks pregnant. According to the medical examiner, her cause of death was hypertensive cardiovascular disease with superimposed preeclampsia—a painful reminder of how these bans further jeopardize Black maternal lives.

The lawsuit says Paxton and other state officials “have imposed a merciless blanket prohibition on abortion that intimidates doctors into ​inaction and breeds extreme fear among Texas’ medical establishment.”

“For months, Ms. Walker had been asking for termination of her pregnancy — even though this was a wanted pregnancy — because she did not think she would survive the pregnancy. Tragically, she was right,” the lawsuit states. “An abortion at any point during her pregnancy would have saved her life.”

“At her final trip to the ER, it was determined that she was, ‘stable enough to go home.’ And two days later, she was dead,” explains Molly Duane of Amplify Legal. Duane is a lawyer, public health professional, and an expert on legal rights during pregnancy. As the Litigation Director at Amplify Legal, she serves as a leading voice of the legal team representing the Walker family in this case. “As our lawsuit discusses, Tiara had a constitutionally protected right to her own life.”

“She was the glue of our family,” shares Tierra’s aunt Latanya Walker through tears. “Her life mattered.”

Author: Bridgette Bartlett Royall

Read the original article on Essence.