A baby at the center of a high-profile surrogacy dispute has undergone surgery for a severe congenital heart defect after his surrogate refused to terminate the pregnancy against the wishes of his biological parents.
The infant, named Rumi, was born Wednesday in Texas after doctors diagnosed him before birth with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS, a rare condition in which the left side of the heart is critically underdeveloped.
On Monday, the newborn received “complex palliative heart surgery” and “is now recuperating under the loving care of his parents,” the family’s attorney told NBC News.
The case drew national attention after surrogate mother McKenna West said the child’s biological parents asked her to have an abortion following the diagnosis. West refused, setting off a legal fight over the pregnancy and the baby’s medical future.
In a filing in Alaska court, the couple’s attorney argued that West had been “clear and knowing in her intention to abide by” the intended parents’ request to terminate the pregnancy if a serious abnormality was detected.
The dispute also pulled in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a prominent anti-abortion Republican now running for the U.S. Senate in Texas. Paxton filed a motion in state court alleging that Rumi’s biological parents might refuse lifesaving treatment and seeking court action to ensure the baby received care.
Rumi’s biological parents have strongly rejected that claim. Their lawyer accused Paxton of exploiting a deeply personal family crisis and turning it into “political theater.”
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The surgery Rumi underwent is known as the Norwood procedure, the first in a series of operations often used to treat babies born with HLHS. Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, attorneys for the biological parents, described it in a statement to NBC News as “a complex palliative heart surgery.”
“Rumi is now recuperating under the loving care of his parents and his heroic team of doctors, nurses, and medical staff,” their attorney Lee Budner said in a statement.
The Norwood procedure is the first of three required operations a baby born with the condition must undergo in the first few years of its life.
“His condition remains critical and complex, and his family seeks privacy in caring for their son on his long road to recovery,” Budner said, noting this would be the final update on Rumi’s health his parents make public.
Gilkar and Ahmed said they never would have withheld care for the child, and that they had made arrangements for him to have the surgery in California.
The biological parents said in a court filing viewed by the outlet that they respected West’s choice not to have the abortion.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some 925 infants are born each year with HLHS, often requiring lifetime care as many children afflicted with the rare syndrome either do not survive or live with lifelong disabilities.
Budner said West is continuing “baseless” claims for custody of the child, which he said was “in violation of multiple court orders” out of Alaska and California.
“We look forward to quickly defeating those claims as Rumi’s parents continue to focus on his health and safety above all else,” Budner said.
