The Trump administration is stepping into the extraordinary surrogacy fight pitting a surrogate against a baby’s biological parents, warning hospitals that the child, who was born with a heart defect, must receive life-saving care as a tense legal battle unfolds.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submitted a letter to Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center reminding them of their obligations to treat the child under federal disability civil rights law, according to Fox News.
HHS said federal disability protections bar doctors from withholding care because of a patient’s condition, including the belief that a disabled person’s life is less worthy or that their care would place a burden on others, the outlet reported.
McKenna West, a single mother of two children, delivered baby Gabriel Wednesday in the Dallas area after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a court order requiring him to receive life-saving medical care when his surrogate rejected demands from his biological parents to abort him.
At 20 weeks, Gabriel was diagnosed in utero with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) — a serious but treatable congenital heart condition that typically requires three staged surgeries. After learning of the diagnosis, his biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, demanded that West travel to California to abort the child, The Daily Wire previously reported.
“So we were all really upset. It was completely unexpected. Everything had been going great,” West, who became pregnant through IVF, told Live Action News. “I was full of fear and stress of what they were going to choose. I was feeling pretty confident that they were going to choose termination, and how could I possibly live with myself going through that?”
West refused the abortion demand and fled to Dallas, where she sought legal protection and access to doctors experienced in treating Gabriel’s condition.
Most surrogacy contracts include provisions giving the intended parents a say in whether to terminate a pregnancy. Surrogate.com says surrogates cannot be forced to undergo an abortion, but refusing to comply with a contractual agreement could carry “financial and legal consequences.”
West says having the baby could cost her $200,000 — a price she was willing to pay.
“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 told Lila Rose, president and founder of 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.”
Gabriel’s biological parents are now speaking out through their attorneys, accusing Paxton’s office of turning the case into “political theater” through its legal actions.
“Our clients’ child was born earlier this morning and he is now receiving medical care provided by a team of pediatric experts,” attorney Lee Budner said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “McKenna West’s baseless attempts to intervene in the child’s medical care have been soundly rejected by the courts.”
“Our clients’ only focus at this time is ensuring that their baby receives the medical care that he vitally needs and that they, as his parents, are able to spend every precious moment they can with him,” Budner added.
In court filings, Gabriel’s biological parents accused West of initially agreeing to terminate the pregnancy before reversing course, The Daily Wire reported.
“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.
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.
A California court ruled that Gilkar and Ahmed are the legal parents of the baby. But Lincoln Wilson, an attorney for West, said that his client “is lawfully the parent because she gave birth to this child that she carries in Texas, then she should control custody as well.”
A hearing is scheduled for August 25.
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