A surrogate who declined to terminate a pregnancy after the unborn child was diagnosed with a treatable heart condition won an initial legal victory Tuesday, despite the wishes of the biological parents.
McKenna West, an Alaska nurse and single mother of two, is seeking to protect the unborn child she has named Gabriel after doctors identified hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a serious congenital heart defect.
West asked a family district court in Dallas County, Texas, to permit the child she is carrying to stay in the state after birth and receive potentially lifesaving medical care.
Her legal push drew support from Texas Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who filed a brief Monday contending that Texas law obligates physicians to provide medically necessary treatment.
Within 24 hours, an associate judge granted a temporary restraining order barring anyone from withholding or interfering with the infant’s needed care after his expected birth early next month.
The judge also named a legal guardian tasked with making sure the child receives all required treatment for hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
‘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 in a statement announcing the order.
‘My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel’s wellbeing,’ he continued, arguing: ‘Every child in our state deserves to be cared for and protected, and that’s exactly what I’ll fight for.’
Surrogate McKenna West petitioned a family district court in Dallas County, Texas to allow the child she is carrying to remain in the Lone Star state and receive potentially lifesaving treatment after the baby’s parents demanded she get an abortion because they learned he has a heart defect
She was supported in her efforts by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is in the midst of running for US Senate
Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action, which helped West connect with lawyers, also praised the outcome.
But she noted that the judge also ordered West be prevented from having any contact with the baby after birth.
‘This is deeply unjust as Baby Gabriel will be separated from the only mother he’s known, left to go through surgery without her comfort or support,’ Rose posted on X, noting that West ‘has been the one fighting for his protection.’
‘Baby Gabriel is not a product,’ she argued. ‘He is a human being. His needs should be the top priority. The fight must continue for Baby Gabriel.’
Her message comes as the child’s biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, continue their lawsuit seeking to establish parental rights through a California court.
They have previously demanded in their own lawsuit that West travel to their home state of California to give birth.
They left it open as to whether they would allow doctors to perform life-saving surgery on the child or if they would only provide him with ‘comfort care’ so he dies shortly after his birth.
West then filed a counter-suit in the Superior Court of Alaska seeking sole custody of the baby so she can allow doctors in Texas to treat him.
West, a nurse, said she researched the baby’s heart condition and found a hospital in Dallas, Texas that is successful at performing a necessary surgery for newborns
But in Paxton’s legal filing on Monday, he argued the active legal disputes only seek to determine who speaks for the child – and do not determine whether life-saving treatment must be provided.
The issue about the child’s care and who has parental rights over him began after a 20-week ultrasound revealed that he would have hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Devastated by the news, 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.’
On Tuesday a judge handed her an early legal win, issuing a termporary restraining order preventing anyone from withholding or obstructing the infant’s necessary treatment when he is born early next month.
West applied to Connecticut-based Worldwide Surrogacy Specialist in LLC last year and was matched with the couple who have since asked her to abort their unborn child amid concerns over his quality of life
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.
However, neither West nor the child’s biological parents are allowed to intervene if a doctor at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center or Children’s Medical Center of Dallas determines that a certain treatment is necessary to save the infant’s life.
If anyone does try to refuse the child’s medical treatment, the court will hold an emergency hearing to determine whether the treatment is necessary and whether any statutory exception applies, according to the order.
West and the child’s biological parents are also forbidden from taking the child out of state after he is born.
The two parties are now due back in court on August 25. The Daily Mail has reached out to Gilkar and Ahmed’s lawyer.
