Parents sue surrogate mother for $100,000 after she refuses abortion request

A 28-year-old surrogate mother, McKenna West, is facing a lawsuit from the biological parents of a baby she carried after she refused their request to terminate the pregnancy following the discovery of a serious heart defect in the fetus. Nasheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, the biological parents, had agreed to pay West $60,000 to serve as a surrogate, with an abortion clause in their agreement allowing them to terminate the pregnancy if problems with the fetus were discovered.

However, at about 20 weeks into the pregnancy, the baby was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare and life-threatening congenital heart defect. West refused to terminate the pregnancy and gave birth to the baby, named Gabriel, on August 12 in Texas. The biological parents are seeking more than $100,000 in damages, alleging that West breached their agreement and engaged in "malicious, outrageous conduct."

West's lawyer argues that Gilkar and Ahmed did not provide her with anything since she refused to terminate the pregnancy and that she has virtually no legal claim to the child.

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