A newborn with a severe heart defect is at the center of a legal battle between a California couple and a surrogate who flew from Alaska to Texas to give birth in a case that has drawn the attention of anti-abortion groups and GOP leaders.
McKenna West, RN, the surrogate, gave birth Wednesday to a boy with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a life-threatening heart condition. West said the couple had wanted to end the pregnancy at 20 weeks, after consulting with doctors about the diagnosis.
The case quickly garnered national attention after Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened and a judge in Dallas ordered two hospitals to ensure they provide life-sustaining care and that the baby remain in Texas until at least a hearing in late August.
The Los Angeles-based couple, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, say West violated the surrogacy contract, and they obtained a restraining order that prevented West from seeing or holding the child after he was born, according to an attorney for the surrogate.
Ahmed and Gilkar are in Dallas with the newborn as he receives medical care, according to the couple's attorney. West and her supporters have called the child Gabriel, but in court filings, the couple has called the boy Rumi.
