Surrogate mother who fled to Texas gives birth to baby with severe heart defect
A surrogate mother who traveled to Texas, where abortion is illegal, claiming she was pressured to end the pregnancy after the discovery of a severe heart defect, gave birth on Wednesday to a baby boy.
The child’s biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California, confirmed the birth through their lawyer, while denying they forced McKenna West, who is from Alaska, to undergo an abortion, the Texas Tribune reported.
“Our clients’ child was born earlier this morning and he is now receiving medical care provided by a team of pediatric experts,” Lee Budner, an attorney, said in a statement to the Texas Tribune.
In a July filing from an Alaska court, obtained by the outlet, attorneys for Gilkar and Ahmed wrote the couple and West were initially in consensus about an abortion.
The dispute attracted national attention this week, after Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, intervened in the case on behalf of West. He publicized an emergency court order out of Dallas county, barring the then-fetus from being taken out of state and requesting for area hospitals to provide “life-saving” care.
Texas’s top prosecutors and West maintained the California couple intended to deprive the child of such treatment. The couple has refuted that claim.
The fetus had been diagnosed with a hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition that interferes with the body’s ability to pump oxygen-rich blood throughout, which could cause breathing problems.
According to the CDC, soon after birth, children with the congenital heart defect require multiple surgeries completed in a particular order. The procedures, the agency advised on its website, were not a cure. Lifelong complications may persist.
“My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel’s well-being,” Paxton said in a Tuesday news release, using a name not given by the California couple. “Every child in our state deserves to be cared for and protected, and that’s exactly what I’ll fight for.”
West appeared on conservative media pundit Megyn Kelly’s podcast last week. An agency had contracted her as a surrogate. She said she believed, speaking with the couple, that “if something came up … termination would not be their first choice”.
“I felt very trapped due to this contract. I felt like I had no voice,” West said, referring to a surrogacy agreement. “But I knew in my soul, in my heart that I wanted to protect this little boy.”
Under state law, abortion in Texas is banned under most circumstances, except when a mother’s health is at risk, a clause that has received scrutiny for its vague wording and nebulous enforcement.
Budner characterized West and Paxton’s actions to the Texas Tribune as “political theater”.
“After heartbreaking consultations with medical providers and their own research about the suffering and quality of life HLHS babies endure, A.B. and C.D. made the difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy,” the filing read, referring to Gilkar and Ahmed with anonymized initials. “It is undisputed that West initially agreed and that she herself made the initial appointment. She then unilaterally changed her mind, cut off all contact with A.B. and C.D., and withdrew medical releases allowing A.B. and C.D. to have contact with all medical providers.”
Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.
