Surrogate in custody battle appeals to Supreme Court over care for sick baby

A California couple’s surrogate who refused their wishes to have an abortion has asked the US Supreme Court to intervene in a custody dispute over the 4-week-old child who was born with a serious heart defect.

McKenna West filed the emergency appeal Wednesday, widening a legal battle over surrogacy and abortion that has won the support of Republican officeholders and anti-abortion groups. West, who lives in Alaska, traveled to Dallas to give birth in August. Most abortions are banned in Texas.

West is asking the nation’s highest court to halt a California court order that recognizes Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the parents of the child whom she calls Gabriel and they call Rumi. West wants final custody or conservatorship because she believes the couple will not provide life-saving care, citing their request for an abortion at 23 weeks.

The boy was born August 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a life-threatening condition that prevents normal blood flow to the organ. He underwent surgery soon after he was born. The couple’s attorney said in August that the newborn was in critical condition and appeared to be “suffering from potential complications.”

What we know about the Texas-born baby at the center of a legal battle between California parents and an Alaska surrogate

Surrogacy is not regulated on a federal level. Each state has its own laws, which can leave room for gaps in interpretation. The Supreme Court is not obliged to hear the case.

Ahmed and Gilkar have not responded to the Supreme Court filing and attorneys for the couple did not respond to phone or email requests for comment. They have previously said West violated the surrogacy contract, and obtained a restraining order preventing West from seeing or holding the child.

Gilkar called West unstable during a hearing August 25 in Dallas, telling the court she was trying to take their baby away.

“He’s our child,” Gilkar said, wiping away tears.

West and her attorneys argue Gilkar and Ahmed are not committed to guaranteeing the baby will undergo surgeries or “life-saving care.”

Both sides were publicly silent after the hearing last month and the case file was sealed, but West’s Supreme Court filing says she lost her plea in Texas to win conservatorship of the child.

The Texas court granted full credit to the California judgment on September 2, according to the filing.

A surrogate says her baby’s intended parents asked her to have an abortion after the fetus was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition. She refused, setting off a dispute that crossed state lines and ended up in a Texas court.

“The stakes of the decisions below are enormous,” the document says, adding that West should be recognized as the mother under Texas law. “But because of the unlawful California judgment, she has been dismissed with prejudice from the Texas proceedings and denied any information about or control over the medically fragile child.”

West believes Ahmed and Gilkar plan to put the baby into hospice care in California rather than let him undergo surgery that could save his life, according to the filing.

Without treatment, hypoplastic left heart syndrome can lead to death within days or weeks. Surgical repairs are not necessarily cures and additional surgeries or heart transplants may be needed, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The couple has said they will not provide any updates to West about the child’s condition, the filing states.

加州一对夫妇的代孕母亲拒绝了他们堕胎的请求，并已向美国最高法院提出申请，要求介入他们与患有严重心脏缺陷的4周大婴儿的监护权纠纷。

麦肯娜·韦斯特周三提交了紧急上诉，使这场围绕代孕和堕胎的法律战愈演愈烈，这场法律战已获得共和党官员和反堕胎团体的支持。韦斯特居住在阿拉斯加，她于八月前往达拉斯分娩。德克萨斯州的大部分堕胎手术都是被禁止的。

韦斯特请求美国最高法院中止加州法院的一项裁决，该裁决承认奥马尔·艾哈迈德和瑙欣·吉尔卡为她所生孩子的父母，她称孩子为加布里埃尔，而这对夫妇则称孩子为鲁米。韦斯特希望获得孩子的最终监护权或抚养权，因为她认为这对夫妇不会提供救命的医疗护理，并指出他们曾在怀孕23周时要求堕胎。

这名男婴于8月12日出生，患有左心发育不全综合征，这是一种危及生命的疾病，会阻碍血液正常流向左心室。他出生后不久就接受了手术。这对夫妇的律师在8月份表示，这名新生儿情况危急，似乎“可能出现并发症”。

关于这位在德克萨斯州出生的婴儿，我们目前了解多少？他正处于加州父母和阿拉斯加代孕母亲之间的一场法律纠纷的中心。

联邦层面并未对代孕进行监管。各州均有各自的法律，这可能导致解释上的漏洞。最高法院没有义务受理此案。

艾哈迈德和吉尔卡尚未对最高法院的诉讼文件作出回应，这对夫妇的律师也未回复电话或电子邮件置评请求。他们此前曾表示，韦斯特违反了代孕合同，并已获得限制令，禁止韦斯特探视或抱孩子。

吉尔卡在 8 月 25 日于达拉斯举行的听证会上称韦斯特情绪不稳定，并告诉法庭她试图带走他们的孩子。

“他是我们的孩子，”吉尔卡一边擦着眼泪一边说。

韦斯特和她的律师辩称，吉尔卡和艾哈迈德没有承诺保证婴儿将接受手术或“救命治疗”。

上个月的听证会后，双方都保持沉默，案件档案也被封存。但韦斯特向最高法院提交的文件显示，她在德克萨斯州争取孩子监护权的请求被驳回了。

根据提交的文件，德克萨斯州法院于9月2日对加利福尼亚州的判决予以完全执行。

一位代孕母亲称，在胎儿被诊断出患有危及生命的心脏疾病后，孩子的委托父母要求她堕胎。她拒绝了，由此引发了一场跨越州界、最终闹上德克萨斯州法庭的纠纷。

文件指出，“下级法院的判决事关重大”，并补充说，根据德克萨斯州法律，韦斯特应被认定为孩子的母亲。“但由于加利福尼亚州的判决不合法，她被剥夺了在德克萨斯州诉讼程序中的参与资格，并且被剥夺了对这个体弱多病的孩子的任何信息或监护权。”

根据提交的文件，韦斯特认为艾哈迈德和吉尔卡计划将婴儿送到加州的临终关怀中心，而不是让他接受可能挽救他生命的手术。

如果不进行治疗，左心发育不全综合征可能在数天或数周内导致死亡。根据美国联邦疾病控制与预防中心的说法，手术修复并不一定能治愈，可能还需要额外的手术或心脏移植。

提交的文件显示，这对夫妇表示不会向韦斯特提供有关孩子病情的任何最新消息。