A US surrogate mother who refused an alleged request from the intended parents to terminate a pregnancy after the baby was diagnosed with a serious heart condition has given birth in Texas, deepening an unusual legal battle over parentage and medical care. McKenna West delivered the boy, known as Gabriel, on Wednesday, 12 August, with a Texas court ordering that medically necessary treatment must be provided while the wider dispute continues.
The case has attracted international attention because it brings together difficult questions about surrogacy, abortion, parental rights and the legal status of a gestational mother.
Readers should note that the court has not issued a final ruling giving West permanent custody or finally determining who Gabriel’s legal parents are. The current orders are temporary and focus mainly on ensuring the baby receives necessary medical treatment while the parentage case proceeds.
West, an Alaska-based nurse, had entered a gestational surrogacy arrangement with California couple Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed. A gestational surrogate carries a pregnancy created through assisted reproduction for intended parents.
According to reports based on court filings, the intended parents asked West to terminate the pregnancy after doctors discovered at about 20 weeks that Gabriel had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS. The reported request to terminate remains part of the disputed background to the case and should not be treated as an independently established admission by the couple.
Baby diagnosed with critical heart condition
HLHS is a serious congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart does not develop properly, affecting the heart’s ability to pump blood around the body.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies it as a critical congenital heart defect. Babies born with the condition generally require surgery soon after birth, often followed by further operations as they grow.
West rejected the reported request for an abortion and travelled to Texas, where she sought specialist medical care for Gabriel.
She later said she had felt trapped by the terms of the surrogacy agreement.
“I felt very trapped due to this contract and felt like I had no voice,” West said in an interview cited by the original reporting.
The case also highlights the importance of access to regulated maternal and child healthcare, particularly where a pregnancy involves serious medical complications. New Daily Prime has previously reported on efforts to expand maternal, newborn and child health services and improve access to qualified healthcare professionals.
Texas court orders treatment for Gabriel
The dispute escalated when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened in the Dallas County parentage case.
On 11 August, a court granted temporary relief requiring doctors to provide Gabriel with medically indicated stabilising and life-sustaining treatment after birth. The order also prevents the child from being removed from Texas or transferred from the treating facility unless a medically necessary transfer is certified.
The hospital must notify the court about Gabriel’s birth, his initial medical assessment and any refusal to consent to treatment. If medically necessary treatment is refused, the court can hold an urgent hearing to decide whether further intervention is required.
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Paxton welcomed the decision, saying the court had acted to ensure Gabriel received the care he needed.
The order is narrower than some reports have suggested. It does not permanently award custody to West, nor does it strip the intended parents of all decision-making powers.
A separate temporary order said Gilkar and Ahmed could make medical decisions for Gabriel, subject to the emergency order protecting the child and any further ruling by the court.
Who is Gabriel’s legal mother?
Parentage is one of the most complicated parts of the case.
Texas argued in its court filing that state law generally treats the woman who gives birth as the legal mother unless there is a properly validated gestational agreement or another recognised court judgment establishing different parents.
The State told the court that the record before it did not show whether the surrogacy agreement had been validated by a Texas court or whether a California court had already issued a parentage judgment. Texas law is therefore being used to determine the parentage and protection questions before the Dallas court.
That means reports saying West automatically “will become” Gabriel’s permanent legal mother go further than the current court orders establish. The parentage dispute remains subject to judicial determination.
The broader case comes as questions about the legal status and rights of children continue to generate debate in the United States. New Daily Prime has also reported on a separate US dispute over birthright citizenship, another issue in which courts are being asked to determine how legal protections apply to children.
For Gabriel, the immediate issue is medical rather than political. The court has ordered that necessary treatment should not be delayed while lawyers continue to argue over parentage, the surrogacy agreement and who ultimately has authority to make decisions for him.
