Surrogate who refused abortion over heart defect takes custody battle to US Supreme Court

A woman named McKenna West, who was hired by a couple to act as a surrogate and later refused their request for an abortion, has now taken the custody dispute over the resulting baby to the United States Supreme Court. The California couple, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, had hired West to abort the pregnancy due to the fetus's severe heart defect, but West instead gave birth to the child in Texas, where abortion is highly restricted.

The baby, named Rumi, has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which often necessitates multiple surgeries with limited curative potential and can lead to lifelong complications. After West delivered the baby, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened and secured an emergency court order to ensure the infant received medical care.

West maintains that the biological parents should not have custody, citing concerns about their willingness to provide the necessary medical attention, as they had initially sought to abort the baby after learning of its life-threatening condition. Despite Rumi's biological parents' insistence that she is "our child" and "the love of our lives," a previous court ruling granted parental rights to the couple.

The California couple's lawyer recently stated that the infant is in critical condition and facing potential complications. West's legal team argues that without Supreme Court intervention, she would lose access to vital information about the child's medical status.