Lexi Parra / ProPublica
Tierra Walker’s Family Sues Ken Paxton and Doctors, Saying Texas Abortion Ban Caused Her Death
Tierra Walker was just 37 years old when her son JJ, 14, found her lying facedown and unresponsive on her bed. As he desperately called 911, he cried, “I need you, I need you,” and tried his best to bring her back to life with CPR, following the instructions of the emergency operator. It was too late. He lost his mother and best friend on his birthday.
Walker died at 20 weeks pregnant after multiple ER trips and hospitalizations. She had been examined by 90 doctors, including 21 OB-GYNs, during the previous months. Yet not one of those 90 medical experts Walker met with ever suggested that she do the only thing that could have definitively saved her life—undergo an abortion to end the pregnancy.
Tierra Walker’s family has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, several of Walker’s doctors and others, alleging the state’s abortion ban and her providers’ refusal to offer an abortion caused her death. The suit accuses Texas’ political and medical establishments of “deliberate indifference, discrimination, and medical mistreatment.”
Walker’s family says she repeatedly requested an abortion as her health deteriorated, but hospital staff focused on the fetus’s condition while disregarding the growing danger to Walker.
“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,” the lawsuit alleges. “Tragically, she was right.”
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Tuesday, Sept. 22 in NYC: A Crucial Conversation on the Future of Feminist Journalism, Hosted by Ms. and Women’s Media Group
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Honoring Gloria Steinem’s Legacy and the Black Feminists Who Shaped It
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Justices Sotomayor and Jackson Sound the Alarm on SCOTUS’ Dangerous Deference to Trump on Mail-In Voting
In this episode, Dr. Goodwin breaks down what the latest Supreme Court ruling on voting rights actually says and what it doesn’t. (Of course, it means everyone’s hair is on fire.) Given that this Supreme Court has tried in every way possible to make it more difficult for people to vote, dismantling the Voting Rights Act—an act that had been supported over the years by both Republicans and also Democrats—what hot mess is next?
The 1965 Voting Rights Act was one that had been embraced over the years strongly by Republicans and Democrats. As Dr. Goodwin discusses, this Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts, has unraveled it, knowingly pulling the thread in order to disintegrate of one of the most essential pieces of legislation in American history, which protected all Americans. She reminds us that the very first suffragists in the United States were white men who had been dispossessed from the right to vote because they were not wealthy. Sit back and take a listen.
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Fall 2026 Cover Reveal: Gloria Steinem Changed the Story, and Taught Us to Keep Telling It
In our Fall 2026 issue, we remember Gloria not only for the words she wrote, the organizations she helped build or the barriers she broke, but for the connections she made.
Perhaps her greatest gift was her ability to listen, to make people feel capable of changing the world, and to build relationships across generations and movements. She knew that the work would outlast any one of us. The responsibility was to keep telling the story—and to make room for those who would tell it next.
Join today to get our newest issue delivered straight to your mailbox—and help sustain the independent feminist journalism Gloria worked to make possible.
Photo by Jenny Warburg
Iranian Women’s Rights Activist Nasrin Sotoudeh Remembers Gloria Steinem: ‘Our Fate and Fortune Is Tied Together’
Nasrin Sotoudeh is an Iranian human rights lawyer and activist who, along with her husband Reza Khandan, has been repeatedly arrested for her women’s rights activism and spent six years in prison. In the wake of Gloria Steinem’s passing on Sept. 2, Soutoudeh shared these words with Ms.
“Gloria Steinem’s extraordinary life and activism has touched, elevated and inspired women all over the world.
“I can attest to her deep influence on me and countless other women’s rights activists here in Iran, including my husband, Reza Khandan.
“As women, we know that whether we are in America or India, Europe or Africa, Iran or Afghanistan, our fate and fortune is tied together. The rights that we achieve or lose in one corner of the world have a direct bearing on another. In a very real sense, when it comes to persecution or emancipation, our minds, bodies and spirits are one.”
