Texas hospital treats infant born via surrogacy amid multistate legal dispute
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
A newborn with a severe heart defect, carried by a surrogate for a California couple, underwent life-saving surgery in Texas while courts in Alaska, California and Texas decide parental rights.
Doctors at a Texas hospital performed the first of three required operations on a six-day-old boy born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition that leaves part of the heart underdeveloped. The infant, named Rumi by his parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, was carried by surrogate McKenna West after the couple contracted with a surrogacy agency in August.
The surrogacy contract allowed the intended parents to request termination of the pregnancy if a fetal abnormality was detected. After a second-trimester test revealed the heart defect, Ahmed and Gilkar asked West to abort, and West initially agreed, according to court filings. The couple later changed course, arranging medical care for the baby in California and stating they would not seek an abortion.
West alleges the parents pressured her to abort and later refused to provide care, while the parents claim West cut off communication after agreeing to the termination request. A California court in May ruled the couple the baby’s legal parents, and an Alaska filing reiterated that they respect West’s right to make her own medical decisions.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened on August 11, ordering two hospitals to provide life-sustaining care and keeping the infant in Texas while the case proceeds. Paxton withdrew from the case after the baby received surgery, saying the state had used “every legal tool” to ensure care.
Anti-abortion groups, including Live Action, assisted West in traveling to Texas and connected her with the legal firm Alliance Defending Freedom. The case has been cited by activists as an example of fetal personhood and as part of a broader campaign against surrogacy, prompting legislative proposals in Texas and Florida to restrict surrogacy contracts involving foreign nationals.
Legal experts note that surrogacy agreements are private and vary by state, often containing clauses about pregnancy termination, but courts are unlikely to compel a surrogate to undergo an abortion against her wishes. The agency that facilitated the arrangement, Worldwide Surrogacy, said it supports both the surrogate’s bodily autonomy and the intended parents’ legal parentage.
Rumi’s parents gave consent for the Norwood procedure, the first surgery for his condition, and the baby is now recovering in the hospital. The parents’ attorney said the family seeks privacy while focusing on the child’s long-term care, and noted that West continues to pursue custody claims that have been rejected by courts in Alaska and California.