The Trump administration has stepped into a high-profile surrogacy dispute involving a baby born with a serious heart defect, after the surrogate refused to terminate the pregnancy despite the wishes of the child’s biological parents.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has warned Texas hospitals that the newborn delivered by McKenna West must be provided life-saving treatment, according to the New York Post.
West gave birth Wednesday in Dallas to the child she has called Baby Gabriel, going against a request from his biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar, 43, and Omar Ahmed, 45.
The couple had asked West to abort the pregnancy after doctors discovered the baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital heart condition that can be treated.
West traveled to Texas for the delivery and has received backing from state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who secured a court order intended to ensure Baby Gabriel would receive medical care after birth.
Federal officials have now endorsed that order, saying they would send a letter to Children’s Medical Center Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center concerning the newborn’s treatment.
HHS’ civil rights office told the two Texas hospitals that federal law bars medical providers from withholding treatment because of a patient’s disability.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has entered the surrogacy battle over a baby with a heart defect whose surrogate refused to abort him despite the biological parents’ wishes. Pictured: Baby Gabriel’s surrogate mother, McKenna West
The HHS’ civil rights office informed the two Texas hospitals that federal law prohibits withholding medical treatment based on a person’s disability. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is pictured earlier this month
Those federal protections, which included the withholding of treatment based on a judgement that the life of someone with a disability has less value or would be a burden on others, extend to decisions involving life-sustaining treatment, HHS told Fox News.
According to the outlet, HHS said it would be monitoring Gabriel’s case and offering technical assistance to both hospitals as they determine his care.
The agency also urged the hospitals to seek a review by an infant care committee should doctors withhold or withdraw medical treatment, Fox reported.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had also told UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas of their legal obligations to provide Gabriel with ‘medically necessary, life-saving care upon birth,’ according to the outlet.
‘The court has made the right decision in immediately acting to protect baby Gabriel’s life and ensure he receives the care he deserves,’ Paxton said following a court order ensuring Gabriel’s after-birth care.
‘My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel’s well-being. Every child in our state deserves to be cared for and protected, and that’s exactly what I’ll fight for.’
Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, also supported West and dubbed her a ‘hero’ on X.
‘McKenna West is a hero in my book. She saved this baby’s life, and I am praying she gets to keep baby Gabriel. That baby cannot go back to the California couple who wanted him dead. Surrogacy is weird and unnatural in the first place, so I default to a simple logic: Your womb, your baby,’ he wrote.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas of their legal obligations to provide Gabriel with ‘medically necessary, life-saving care upon birth’
HHS officials said that they would be sending a letter to Children’s Medical Center for Dallas (pictured) and UT Southwestern Medical Center over the baby’s medical treatment
The couple told TMZ on Thursday that they have physical custody of the child and their lawyer, Lee Bunder, told the outlet that Gabriel is receiving medical care in their custody.
Bunder added that his clients are focused on the baby’s health and following the advice of medical professionals about treatment for his hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
The couple became concerned after a 20-week ultrasound revealed that he would have the birth defect.
West did some research and found a hospital in Dallas that has had a 100 percent success rate in recent years with the first of three surgeries a baby would need right after birth.
Babies who undergo that first surgery have a 75 percent chance of making it to the age of five, and those who make it to their first birthday have a 90 percent chance of making it to the age of 18, according to New York Presbyterian Hospital.
West then told her contacts at Connecticut-based Worldwide Surrogacy Specialist LLC that she could live with a friend in Texas to mitigate costs to Gilkar and Ahmed.
But a liaison at the agency told her the couple was still concerned about the baby’s future quality of life living with the heart condition.
West then received a call from the liaison telling her the parents officially requested she undergo an abortion – something she was morally against.
As she would be 24 weeks pregnant at the time of the abortion, West said in court documents she was appalled at the idea that doctors would inject the baby with ‘a solution that will stop his heart and then he’ll be literally ripped apart and dismembered as he’s taken from [her] uterus.’
Although West secured the right for Gabriel to receive medical treatment after birth, she was also forbidden from having any contact with him once he arrived
As West continued to struggle with the biological parents’ request, her brother reached out to her and offered to adopt the child.
West then flew down to Texas to deliver the child and seek legal protections, as Texas state law recognizes anyone who gives birth in the state as the legal mother of that child.
However, Tuesday’s ruling forbids her from making any medical decisions for or on behalf of the child and states the child’s biological parents can make medical decisions on behalf of their son.
The two parties are now due back in court on August 25.
