Tierra Walker died after asking to end her pregnancy, her aunt says, and being told no
Synopsis
LaTanya Walker is the aunt of Tierra Walker, a 37-year-old mother and dental assistant who died after repeatedly being denied an abortion in Texas during a high-risk pregnancy. Over five months, LaTanya cared for Tierra through repeated hospital visits as she experienced seizures, blood clots, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other complications during her pregnancy, all of which put her at risk of preeclampsia. This led to her death on December 30, 2024.
LaTanya spoke with Abortion in America to bring greater attention and awareness to the experiences of people living in states with abortion bans. The conversation below has been edited from the original transcript for length and clarity.
LaTanya: Tierra wasn’t just my niece, she was like my child. She was raised with me and my kids. And it was the love that I have that had me trying to keep her going.
Tierra was a wonderful mom. She was strong, determined, a go-getter, and she was accomplished in a lot of things through life. Her husband loved her. She was strong, she was strong. She kept the family together, whether it was a holiday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, taking trips, having dinner, everything. Tierra would be the one to get it arranged.
My favorite thing was us gathering together. Being as one.
Tierra wasn’t just my niece, she was like my child.
Tierra was having seizures back to back in 2024.
Before she was having a problem, she had lost twins during an earlier high-risk pregnancy from preeclampsia. After that, when she was pregnant again—we didn’t know she was pregnant initially—but then the seizures started. Her blood pressure was up. She wasn’t feeling good.
Her husband, Eric, kept taking her back and forth to different hospitals.
I got called and had to rush over to see what was going on with her. She was scared, and she was shaking.
People don’t understand what those seizures look like. She would have one for maybe 15 or 20 minutes, then it would stop for five minutes, and then it would start again. Back to back to back. They were uncontrollable.
Editor’s note: During this time period, Tierra’s health worsened and she made repeated visits to doctors. More than 90 doctors were involved, with at least one documenting that she was at high risk of deterioration or death. According to her medical records, she was never offered an abortion to end her pregnancy.
I felt like there was nothing I could do. I would crawl into bed with her, pray with her, sing to her, try to comfort her, to see if I could calm her down. Sometimes it helped a little. But it felt like there was nothing I could do. She was reaching out, trying to figure out what was going on.
We kept asking, “Is it the baby? Could it be the pregnancy?”
And they told us at the beginning, “We’re not worried about the baby right now. We’re trying to get her under control.” Constantly being told that, throughout the days.
At the end, she said she couldn’t take it anymore. Tierra asked the doctors, “Is it possible I can end the pregnancy? Because I can’t take this no more.”
The doctors told her no. Said it was not the baby. That she needed to get herself under control.
She cried. I cried. It felt like we were getting nowhere.
I felt like there was nothing I could do. I would crawl into the bed with her, pray with her, sing to her, try to comfort her, to see if I could calm her down.
You could see the nurses and doctors getting frustrated, the conversations in the hallway.
I knew that there was more that they could have done to help her. The pain my sister was going through. The pain her husband was going through. The pain I was going through.
Her son couldn’t even go see her like that, he had never seen his mom like that.
I was trying to stay strong, because I knew she was strong and was staying strong for everybody else.
But I cussed one of the doctors out. He told me I wasn’t a doctor. And I said, no, I may not be a doctor, but I see her body. She knows her body.
She couldn’t even sit up. She couldn’t even hold nothing because she was shaking. She couldn’t go to the bathroom on her own. She was laying there, and at night I was the one cleaning her up, taking care of her.
They kept saying it wasn’t the baby, that it was her. But she wasn’t like this before she got pregnant. And I told them, “They’re doing this because of the law.”
I asked the hospital, “If it was your family member laying right there, what choice would you make?”
They just walked off, it was like they couldn’t discuss or say anything different. It was the same thing over and over. The baby’s fine. We’re not worrying about the baby.
But even though the baby’s fine, she wasn’t fine. And she wasn’t fine because the baby was in her.
They saw her shaking. They saw what she was doing. It’s like they didn’t care, that it didn’t matter.
I know it was because of the law, because they banned abortion in Texas. I told them that’s why they’re not doing anything.
If they had given her the abortion she needed for her health, she would still be here today.
Editor’s note: Over the course of five months, Tierra’s blood pressure could not be controlled and she developed blood clots in her legs. She repeatedly asked doctors about ending her pregnancy to protect her health, but she was not offered an abortion. Tierra died at home, and was found by her son. An autopsy later confirmed she died from preeclampsia.
Her son misses her so much. He sends me pictures when he’s feeling down. And I know he’s missing her then. There was a connection with them more than anything, she was his girl, like a best friend/son relationship. She would wake him up in the morning, they would have their talk for the day. His mother was all he knew, he loved his mom.
If this happened to you or someone you love, contact Abortion in America or reach out to our team directly at Amplify Legal.
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