U.S. couple confront surrogate in escalating court battle over sick newborn

A California couple embroiled in a dispute with their surrogate over the birth of their baby with a life-threatening heart defect told a Texas court Tuesday that their newborn’s condition had worsened and expressed anguish at the surrogate’s failure to comply with their wishes to terminate the pregnancy and her ensuing attempt to gain custody of the child.

“He’s our child,” Nausheen Gilkar, the baby’s biological mother, said from the witness stand, the Associated Press reported, arguing that their surrogate McKenna West was “unstable.”

“She’s trying to take him from us,” she added.

Lawyers for West, a nurse with two children from Alaska, said she is seeking sole conservatorship to make medical decisions for the child, whom she calls Gabriel.

Story continues below advertisement

Gilkar and her husband, Omar Ahmed, say they named the newborn Rumi.

In separate court documents viewed by the Associated Press, Rumi’s biological parents argued that West broke their surrogacy contract when she failed to comply with their decision to terminate the pregnancy and that a California court determined she has no rights to legal or physical custody of the child.

Get daily National news

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you'll never miss the day's top stories.

Tuesday’s hearing offered the fullest public airing to date of an escalating conflict at the intersection of surrogacy, abortion, and parental rights that has seen pro-life groups support West’s pursuit of medical treatment for the severely ill newborn and Republican legislators expedite court proceedings to ensure the baby would remain in Texas to receive that care.

West left her home state of Alaska for Texas earlier this month after Rumi’s parents had asked her to terminate the pregnancy, which they requested upon learning of the fetus’s condition at 20 weeks, West said during an interview with former Fox News host Megyn Kelly last month.

Texas prohibits almost all abortions and has laws for the criminal prosecution of those who provide the healthcare to patients. Doctors face up to 99 years in prison, a loss of their medical license, and fines.

Story continues below advertisement

West said during the interview that she was against abortion and that she had signed a surrogacy agreement that stipulated the parents could opt to abort the pregnancy, but that she felt confident termination would not be “their first choice.”

She entered an agreement with the couple through Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists, LLC in August 2025.

West told the court on Tuesday that she was 23 weeks pregnant when she made an appointment for an abortion at the couple’s behest but did not feel comfortable going through with it, so plans were made to deliver the baby in California, the Texas Tribune reported, citing Alaska legal court filings.

“I knew that this baby, despite the diagnosis, had a great chance at survival and a great chance at leading a long life,” West told the court.

West allegedly cut off contact with the parents and travelled from her home state, Alaska, to Texas to give birth. The couple subsequently obtained a restraining order barring West from seeing or holding the child.

The judge did not rule on final custody or conservatorship on Tuesday, and the restraining order remained in effect.

It was not clear when the judge would issue an order in the case.

Court documents, viewed by the Associated Press and filed by the couple’s lawyer prior to the hearing, said Rumi was in critical condition and appeared to be “suffering from potential complications” from a surgical procedure after he was born.

Story continues below advertisement

The child has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital defect in which one side of the heart is underdeveloped, preventing normal blood flow.

Fewer than 1,000 newborns have the condition each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Without treatment, death can come within days or weeks.

Gilkar told the court that the baby had no blood flow to the left side of his heart. Since surgery, she said, he has gasped for air, choked on tubes and needed a blood transfusion.

“He’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen,” Gilkar said. “He’s the love of our lives. He’s suffering a lot.”