The surrogate mother who refused a California couple’s demand to abort a baby after he was diagnosed with a heart defect is taking her extraordinary custody battle to the U.S. Supreme Court.
McKenna West, an Alaska nurse who carried and gave birth to the baby in Texas, filed an emergency application Wednesday asking the Supreme Court to block a California ruling recognizing the biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, as the child’s legal parents. West’s attorneys have asked Justice Elena Kagan, who oversees urgent matters from the Ninth Circuit, to block the California ruling temporarily.
Kagan has not yet ruled on the request. In most cases on the court’s emergency docket, justices will refer the matter to the full court for review. An order in West’s favor would not resolve the custody issue, but rather hit the brakes on the California ruling and bring the surrogate mother back into the fold as the infant child fights for his life.
The remarkable custody battle case centers around a bitter dispute over abortion, surrogacy, and parental rights. West says the California ruling has left her unable to advocate for the medically fragile newborn, whom she calls Gabriel. His genetic parents named him Rumi.
West’s attorneys argue that the existing court orders are inflicting “irreparable harm” — a legal term for damage or injury that cannot be remedied without immediate intervention from the high court.
“The child could be removed from the Texas hospital and taken to California for hospice — despite his treatable condition — around September 17, if not sooner,” the filing reads. “Without a stay, the Commissioning Parties may halt life-saving care for Baby G. before this Court can even consider a petition for certiorari, much less rule on the merits.”
At 20 weeks, the baby was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a serious congenital heart defect that typically requires three staged surgeries. With treatment, babies with HLHS can survive into adulthood, according to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The diagnosis prompted the biological parents to seek an abortion. West initially agreed but changed her mind and fled to Texas, where she sought medical care in a state with sweeping abortion restrictions.
“This is my body, and I absolutely don’t want to go through this. Nothing was scarier than questioning my own soul and knowing what would happen to this baby boy,” she previously told Live Action. “His life doesn’t have a price tag on it. There’s nothing that they could try to come after me for that would be worth his life.”
The baby was born on August 12 and has undergone at least one complex life-saving surgery to treat his heart condition, The Daily Wire reported.
In a Dallas courtroom last month, the genetic parents Gilkar and Ahmed told a judge they were reeling after West defied their demand to get an abortion.
“He’s our child,” Gilkar said, according to the Associated Press, which reported that the California woman wiped away tears on the witness stand. Referring to the surrogate sitting across the courtroom, Gilkar added, “She’s unstable. She’s trying to take him from us.”
Jeff Domen, an attorney for West, repeatedly pressed Gilkar about her desire to terminate the pregnancy after the baby heart defect diagnosis.
“Would you trust somebody to care for your child that wanted your child dead?” Domen asked.
Gilkar said she did not know how to answer.
In earlier court filings, the biological parents accused West of initially agreeing to terminate the pregnancy before reversing course, The Daily Wire reported. They have also sued West for more than $100,000, alleging she violated a surrogacy agreement that included an abortion provision.
“It is undisputed that West initially agreed and that she herself made the initial appointment. She then unilaterally changed her mind, cut off all contact with A.B. and C.D., and withdrew medical releases allowing A.B. and C.D. to have contact with all medical providers,” the filing said.
In August, a Dallas judge granted the biological couple’s request for a temporary restraining order against West and blocked her from making any medical decisions for the child she was carrying. On September 2, the Texas judge upheld the California ruling and removed West from the case, Fox News reported.
West is now shut out of the baby’s life and largely in the dark about his medical care and prognosis as the appeals process unfolds. Her attorneys allege the biological parents have begun challenging the medical-care order, despite previously agreeing to the baby’s first round of life-saving surgery.
Now, West’s attorneys are pleading with the nation’s highest court to intervene and restore her ability to advocate for the child.
“Unless this Court provides relief from that judgment, M.W. will have no access to information about Baby G.’s condition as the Commissioning Parties seek to overturn the Texas order requiring him to receive ongoing life-saving care,” West’s attorneys said.
.png)
.png)
