Surrogate Gives Birth To Baby Parents Wanted Aborted

Well, this is a wild one…

On Wednesday morning, a Black woman from Alaska gave birth to a baby in northern Texas, after being locked in a contentious months-long legal battle with a California couple, for whom she was meant to be a surrogate.

It all started last year, when McKenna West, an Alaskan nurse and single mother of two, who became a surrogate with the Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists agency, was matched up with Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, a couple from Los Angeles, California, and became pregnant with their child in December.

According to Newsweek, West underwent an anatomy scan in her 20th week of pregnancy in April, and that’s when she and the couple received the devastating news that hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a serious heart condition that would require a series of surgeries and other treatments for the baby to survive.

From Newsweek:

HLHS is a type of congenital heart defect that prevents normal blood flow through the heart.

It occurs when the left side of the heart does not form correctly during a pregnancy and, while treatable, is a serious condition that requires surgery as soon as possible after birth. If untreated, the condition causes symptoms such as problems breathing, fast heart rate, weak pulse, and ashen or bluish skin a few days after birth.

A baby diagnosed with HLHS must undergo multiple surgeries in a particular order, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to help the right ventricle become the main pumping chamber for blood to reach the body.

Overwhelmed by the toll it would take on them to care for a baby with such a condition, Gilkar and Ahmed asked West to abort the baby they were expecting. Of course, at that point, West was nearly five months into this pregnancy, and, in Alaska, doctors refused to perform the “high-risk, late-term” abortion, according to a lawsuit filed by West.

So, why the lawsuit?

Well, to get around the refusal of doctors in Alaska to perform the abortion, Gilkar and Ahmed asked West to travel to Seattle for the procedure, which West refused to do, noting in her lawsuit that the baby’s heart condition can be treated. Instead, West reportedly suggested that the biological parents “simply cut ties” with her and the baby. She also said her brother was willing to adopt the child. According to West’s lawsuit, though, the couple refused that arrangement and threatened to sue her for $250,000 if she did not abort the baby. Per Newsweek: “The couple also tried to establish their parental rights on the unborn child, filing a petition for parentage in California that West said breached the terms of the surrogacy contract, which says that any legal proceedings should occur in Alaska.”

So, West relocated to Texas, where elective abortions were banned at all stages of pregnancy, following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. West also filed for custody of the child so she could allow doctors to perform the necessary surgeries once the baby — her baby, as far as she’s concerned — was born. Under Texas family law, anyone who gives birth in the state is recognized as the legal mother of that child.

All of this culminated in a legal battle that involved the Alaska Superior Court, the California Second District Court of Appeal and a Dallas District Court in Texas.

But now, the baby — “Baby Gabriel” — has been born.

According to the New York Times, West gave birth to a boy in Dallas on Wednesday morning, but that doesn’t end the legal battle.

Despite what Texas family law says about the birth parent automatically being the child’s legal guardian, in complex situations such as surrogacy or multi-state disputes — in this case, both — custody can be contested based on prior agreements, genetic ties, or orders issued by other states, in this case, all three.

So, according to the Times, a Dallas County court issued a restraining order against West, barring her from presenting herself as the baby’s parent, guardian, or medical-decision maker “to anyone.”

Meanwhile, this case has predictably become fodder for pro-life activists, despite clearly being far more complicated than a simple pro-choice vs. pro-life stance. Although, to be clear, West has said publicly that she doesn’t support abortion, and even made an appearance on the podcast of conservative commentator Megyn Kelly to discuss the matter.

West also has the support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

From the Times:

The birth came just days after Mr. Paxton’s legal intervention on Monday. Mr. Paxton, a Republican locked in a tough race for the U.S. Senate, argued in Dallas County court that the parents were required to provide lifesaving care under Texas law.

“My office will use every tool available to protect innocent lives,” Mr. Paxton said in a statement.

The move sharply increased attention on what had already been a cause célèbre in anti-abortion circles this summer.

By Tuesday, Mr. Paxton celebrated having secured a temporary restraining order, or T.R.O., in Dallas that prevents the parents from removing the child from Texas until a hearing in late August. The order also requires them to provide “medically indicated, lifesaving treatment” to the baby.

“As if the heartbreak of his condition were not enough, they are devastated to see their family tragedy transformed into political theater by the Texas Attorney General’s office and McKenna West,” said Lee Budner, an attorney representing Gilkar and Ahmed.

Again, this ongoing case is complicated. At the beginning of their arrangement, Gilkar and Ahmed were expecting a child, but then they wanted the pregnancy terminated after they learned of its heart condition.

West, on the other hand, was expecting to give birth to a baby that she would then hand off to his biological parents, and now she’s fighting to be that child’s legal mother after refusing to terminate her pregnancy.

Anyone citing this case as a win for anti-abortion activists is missing, either intentionally or unintentionally, the nuance in a story they aren’t involved in, as well as the impact on everyone who is involved.

The child is born, the medical procedures are likely going to happen, and this doesn’t appear to be a case that anyone walks away from without plenty of trauma.

So, what’s next? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

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Surrogate Gives Birth To Baby Biological Parents Wanted Aborted was originally published on newsone.com