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A surrogate who refused to have an abortion at the request of the baby's biological parents has filed a frantic last-minute appeal to block the couple from moving the newborn out of Texas.
asserted
who → sign → Texas
McKenna West, 28, lodged an emergency appeal last week with the US Supreme Court asking it to temporarily block a California court order recognizing Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the infant's legal parents.
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West → lodge → parents
The court order would allow the couple to remove the five-week-old, who was born with a serious heart defect, from the Dallas hospital where he is receiving treatment and take him back to their home in Los Angeles.
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he → allow → Angeles
West asked SCOTUS to block the order by Thursday, but on Monday filed a supplemental brief urging the nation's highest court to issue an immediate stay 'to preserve the child's life.'
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West → ask → life
She said 'relief was urgently needed' because Ahmed and Gilkar could attempt to remove the baby, whom she calls Gabriel and the couple call Rumi, from the 'hospital as soon as September 17, 2026.'
'However, that date appears to have been too conservative, and an administrative stay is now needed by 1:00 EST tomorrow,' West's lawyers wrote in the filing obtained by the Daily Mail.
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lawyers → say → Mail
The guardian ad litem, who was appointed to represent the baby boy's interests, filed an emergency motion to modify a Texas court's previous order forcing the couple to provide the infant with lifesaving care, Monday's filing states.
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filing → appoint → care
The genetic parents have joined that motion 'to remove Baby G. from the hospital and from the State of Texas,' West's supplemental brief said.
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brief → join → Texas
Surrogate McKenna West, 28, refused to abort an unborn baby over a potentially treatable heart defect despite the biological parents' wishes
A California court order has recognized the infant's biological parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, as his legal guardians
'
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order → refuse → guardians
At the urging of the Commissioning Parties, the Texas court has set the hearing on the guardian ad litem's motion for tomorrow, September 15, at 2.30 pm EDT,' the filing states.
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filing → set → EDT
'Because [West] has been dismissed from that case with prejudice, the Commissioning Parties are maintaining that [West] may not be heard in connection with their request.
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West → dismiss → request
That is one of the core irreparable harms described in the Application.'
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That → describe → Application
West and her attorneys have repeatedly pushed for the surrogate to have decision-making authority over the baby, who has remained in his biological parents' care since he was born on August 12.
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he → push → August
But she was dismissed from the Texas court case on September 2, leaving her with no right to information about the child and no standing to defend an order requiring his continued treatment.
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she → dismiss → treatment
West, a nurse, now wants SCOTUS to halt the California court order that recognizes Ahmed and Gilkar as the baby's parents.
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that → want → parents
She argued in the application that the 'judgement was entered in a gross violation of federal due process that warrants this court's review and reversal.
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that → argue → review
She claimed she was '[hauled] into California court on two days notice, without proper service' when the judge made the ruling.
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judge → claim → ruling
West, a mother of her own two biological children, is ultimately seeking final custody or conservatorship because she believes the couple will not provide the child with life-saving care, citing their request for an abortion at 23 weeks.
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couple → seek → weeks
West, center, filed an emergency appeal last week with the US Supreme Court requesting that the California court's order be temporarily blocked
In her previous petition to SCOTUS, West argued 'time is of the essence,' after Ahmed and Gilkar's own attorney said in an August court hearing that the newborn was in critical condition and appeared to be 'suffering from potential complications.'
Surrogacy is not regulated at the federal level.
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Surrogacy → file → level
Each state has its own laws, which can leave room for gaps in interpretation.
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which → have → interpretation
The Supreme Court is not obliged to hear the case.
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Court → oblige → case
Ahmed and Gilkar have previously accused West of violating the surrogacy contract, and obtained a restraining order preventing her from seeing or holding the child.
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Ahmed → accuse → child
At an August 25 court hearing in Dallas, Gilkar even claimed West was trying to take their baby away.
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West → claim → baby
'He's our child,' Gilkar said, wiping away tears.
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Gilkar → say → tears
She explained at the court hearing how she went through eight failed rounds of in vitro fertilization and had to have a hysterectomy.
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she → explain → hysterectomy
'This was our only option,' Gilkar said of her and her husband's decision to seek a surrogate.
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Gilkar → say → surrogate
'We've never wanted anything more than this baby.'
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We → want → baby
The court also saw the surrogacy agreement West signed where she agreed to allow the parents to terminate the pregnancy if there were 'fetal abnormalities.'
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parents → see → pregnancy
West asked SCOTUS to block the order by Thursday, but on Monday filed a supplemental brief urging the nation's highest court to issue an immediate stay 'to preserve the child's life'
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West → ask → life
By April, the surrogate mother learned the baby in her womb was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome which he might not survive.
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he → learn → which
Yet West refused to get an amniocentesis test that would have told doctors definitively if the unborn baby was a candidate for the open-heart surgery that would be necessary to keep him alive, Gilkar and Ahmed's lawyer argued.
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Gilkar → refuse → him
Gilkar has admitted she and her husband asked West to terminate the pregnancy due to the complications with the baby's heart condition, but denied they ever refused or intended to refuse medical care to the child.
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they → admit → child
Health complications then started the moment the baby boy was born, requiring him to be resuscitated.
'When they tried to give him medicine, the tube came out and he stopped breathing and a chaplain was called,' Gilkar sobbed.
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Gilkar → start → medicine
'He's suffering a lot.'
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He → suffer → lot
Additionally, the baby has undergone genetic testing, blood work and echocardiogram as well as that two-day open heart procedure called the 'Norwood.'
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baby → undergo → testing
However, the surgery was delayed by days because West did not get the amniocentesis test while pregnant, their lawyers said.
West and her attorneys have repeatedly pushed for the surrogate to have decision-making authority over the baby, who has remained in his biological parents' care since he was born on August 12
Due to his constant need for medical attention, the biological parents have only held the child a handful of times since he was born.
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he → delay → times
Without treatment, hypoplastic left heart syndrome can lead to death within days or weeks.
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syndrome → lead → days
Surgical repairs are not necessarily cures and additional surgeries or heart transplants may be needed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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surgeries → need → Control
The Daily Mail contacted lawyers for West and Ahmed and Gilkar for comment.
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Mail → contact → comment
The Aporia
