Surrogate Who Refused Abortion Willing to Take Custody Fight With Baby’s Intended Parents to Supreme Court

Surrogate McKenna West is prepared to take the fight over the baby she gave birth to all the way to the nation’s highest court.

West’s attorney, Lincoln Wilson, said his client is mounting an all-out legal battle to be recognized as the legal mother of baby Gabriel, who was born Wednesday in the Dallas area, according to a report the New York Post published Thursday, August 13. “She is seeking parentage of the child because she gave birth in Texas, and in Texas, if you give birth to a child, it’s your child,” Wilson said.

Wilson argued that a California custody order currently favoring the baby’s intended parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, is “void,” per the outlet. “We think that once that California judgment is removed … that basically she is the mother under Texas law,” he said, adding, “We are taking that challenge up through the California courts, and we’ll take it up to the US Supreme Court if we have to.”

The battle over Gabriel’s parentage stems from a dispute that began months before he was born. In April, West learned at 20 weeks that the fetus had hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Gilkar and Ahmed asked her to terminate the pregnancy under an “anomaly” clause in their surrogacy contract; West refused to terminate and traveled to Texas, where she gave birth on August 12. Wilson likened the contract’s abortion clause to a “hitman contract,” according to the New York Post‘s report. He said, “the right to get an abortion also entails the right to not get an abortion.”

Despite the birth, West currently has no legal authority over Gabriel. A temporary restraining order bars her from making medical decisions, representing herself as his parent, or removing him from the hospital, as Globe previously reported.

Gilkar and Ahmed now have physical custody while the baby awaits heart surgery. Their attorney, Lee Budner, told TMZ that the couple is focused on their son’s health. The outlet reported that Budner said their “family tragedy” has been “transformed into political theater by the Texas Attorney General’s office and McKenna West.”

Per the New York Post, Gabriel will soon undergo the first of three procedures. “Within a few days, the first of three surgeries will be performed. It’s called the Norwood procedure,” Wilson said, noting the hospital has “a 100 percent success rate” with the operation.