McKenna West, the surrogate who declined to terminate her pregnancy despite the biological parents’ wishes, fears the baby could be taken out of Texas as she urges the U.S. Supreme Court to step into the escalating custody dispute.
West, 28, filed a motion with the nation’s highest court last week after becoming concerned that Los Angeles couple Nasheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed might remove the child—who was born with a severe heart defect—from a Dallas hospital as early as Thursday.
On Monday, however, the nurse’s attorneys submitted an updated brief seeking faster action from the Supreme Court.
“That date appears to have been too conservative and an administrative stay is now needed by 1:00 EST tomorrow,” West’s lawyers wrote in the filing reviewed by The Post.
West is asking the Supreme Court to block a California order recognizing Gilkar and Ahmed as the child’s parents. A Texas judge later upheld that decision and ruled that West could not make choices about the baby’s medical treatment or care.
According to Monday’s filing, the guardian ad litem appointed to represent the child’s interests “filed an emergency motion to immediately modify that court’s order for lifesaving care.”
The Alaska-based single mother is seeking an immediate stay, saying it is necessary “to preserve the child’s life.”
West is pursuing custody, or conservatorship, because she believes Gilkar and Ahmed may not provide the lifesaving treatment needed by the baby she calls Gabriel. The couple refers to the child as Rumi.
Her attorneys argued that “future care for Baby G. is uncertain and unknowable” following the California court’s ruling.
West has said she would drop her custody case if she received assurances that the baby would obtain appropriate medical care, her lawyers stated.
Her attorney maintains that the couple has repeatedly “refused” to provide such a commitment.
The baby was born on Aug. 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a life-threatening condition that disrupts normal blood flow through the heart.
Infants with HLHS typically need surgery almost immediately after birth to have a chance of surviving beyond their first week.
The condition was detected in April, when West was about 20 weeks pregnant. She said the diagnosis came unexpectedly.
“Everything had been going great,” West previously told Live Action News.
“There had been no signs of anything being wrong. All genetic testing was normal.”
Gilkar and Ahmed agreed to pay West $60,000 to carry the child – but the surrogacy contract contained a clause that allowed terminations if there was an “anomaly” during the pregnancy.
West couldn’t go through with the abortion and fled to Texas, where the procedure is illegal.
She just wants the baby to receive the treatment needed for his heart condition, but the couple are suing her for at least $100,000.
And Gilkar has even accused West of trying to snatch their baby.
“She’s making us run from doctor to doctor, state to state. With our baby — she’s trying to take him,” she told a Dallas court last month.
“He’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. He’s the love of our lives.”
