Surrogate vows Supreme Court fight to claim motherhood of baby she refused to abort

McKenna West, a nurse from Alaska who acted as a surrogate, has pledged to take her dispute over the custody of baby Gabriel to the Supreme Court, asserting that Texas law grants her motherhood because she delivered the child. Her lawyer, Lincoln Wilson, says the California custody order favoring the LA-based biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, is void and will be contested in state courts before any federal appeal.

The surrogacy agreement included a provision permitting termination if a fetal anomaly was detected; the parents invoked this clause after a diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome at 20 weeks, but West declined to abort and instead gave birth in the Dallas area. A temporary restraining order presently prevents West from making medical or caregiving decisions for the newborn, who is scheduled for the Norwood procedure at a hospital with a reported perfect success rate. The case highlights the clash between surrogacy contracts, abortion rights, and state parentage laws.