This baby custody story has been sitting with me since I first heard about it, because it is not your typical “who gets the kid” fight.
A surrogate in Alaska named McKenna West got pregnant for a couple in California. Somewhere around five months into the pregnancy, doctors found out the baby had a serious heart condition.
That is when things reportedly got complicated, because according to her attorney, the couple asked her to end the pregnancy.
She did not.
She carried him to term and gave birth this week in Texas, of all places, which is now its own whole legal situation.
The couple calls him Rumi. West calls him Gabriel. Two names, two custody claims, and a hospital room where a newborn is currently getting cardiac care while three states argue over who actually gets to call him theirs.
A baby born with a serious heart defect is now at the center of a custody fight that, by both sides’ accounts, started with a disagreement over whether the pregnancy should have continued at all.
What Actually Happened This Week
The baby was born Wednesday, August 12, and right now he is in the physical custody of the intended parents while he gets cardiac treatment.
West and the couple, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, signed their surrogacy agreement back in August 2025 through an agency called Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists.
The heart condition is called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. It means the left side of the heart did not form properly.
West’s attorney says court orders have kept her from even seeing or holding the baby since he was born.
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What Each Side Is Saying
Both sides have spoken publicly, and their versions don’t line up at all.
The intended parents’ attorney, Lee Budner, kept things simple. “Our clients son was born yesterday morning, and he is now in their physical custody while he receives expert medical care at a tertiary care center,” he said. He added that their only focus right now is making sure the baby gets the care he needs.
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West’s attorney, Lincoln Davis Wilson, is not backing down either. “We are working on challenging those orders of parentage because we think that Texas law makes a woman who gives birth to a child, the mother of the child,” he said.
Why Three States Are Involved At All
No single federal law covers surrogacy in the US, so every state does its own thing. That gap is basically running this whole case.
The contract was signed under California law, since that is where the couple lives. West lives in Alaska, and that is where court filings say the disagreement over ending the pregnancy played out.
The actual birth happened in Texas. A Texas court has already ordered that the baby get medically necessary care and stay in the state until at least a hearing set for late August.
A State Official Got Involved Too
Days before the birth, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stepped into the case.
He said he wanted to make sure the baby would get lifesaving care.
The intended parents pushed back on that, saying through their attorney that getting their baby proper medical care is literally their only focus.
West’s team says she faced weeks of pressure to end the pregnancy after the diagnosis. The couple’s filings say she initially agreed and even booked the first appointment herself before she stopped responding. No court has settled any of that yet.
What Happens Next
Nothing about this is over. A hearing is already set for late August to sort through what remains unresolved.
West’s team says she plans to keep fighting for custody and to challenge the current parentage orders under Texas law.
We still do not know which hospital he is being treated at, what the surgical plan looks like, or how he is doing beyond the initial diagnosis. The full surrogacy contract has not been made public either, so it is unclear which parts of it a court has actually enforced so far.
For context, hypoplastic left heart syndrome usually needs three separate surgeries, starting with one that happens within days or weeks of birth. Left untreated, babies with this condition can pass within days or weeks, and even after surgery, some kids still need more procedures or a heart transplant later on.
Surrogacy in America has grown a lot faster than the laws meant to regulate it. This case isn’t really an exception. It is what happens when a pregnancy, a diagnosis, and a disagreement all collide in a system that was never built to catch them.
What do you think should take priority in a surrogacy dispute when a surrogate’s decision about a pregnancy conflicts with the wishes of the intended parents?
