A surrogate mother from Alaska who defied a California couple’s request to terminate a pregnancy has turned to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking emergency intervention in a custody fight over a 4-week-old baby born with a severe congenital heart condition.
McKenna West filed the emergency petition on Wednesday, escalating a closely watched legal dispute that has drawn attention from Republican officials and anti-abortion organizations. West, an Alaska resident, traveled to Dallas to deliver the baby in August, in a state where most abortions are prohibited.
In her request to the nation’s highest court, West is asking justices to pause a California court order naming Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the child’s legal parents. West refers to the baby as Gabriel, while the couple calls him Rumi. She is seeking permanent custody or conservatorship, arguing that the intended parents may not pursue life-saving treatment, pointing to their earlier request for an abortion at 23 weeks of pregnancy.
The infant was born on Aug. 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a dangerous defect that restricts normal blood flow through the heart. He had surgery shortly after birth. In August, an attorney for the California couple said the newborn remained in critical condition and appeared to be “suffering from potential complications.”
The case underscores the legal uncertainty surrounding surrogacy in the United States, where no federal framework governs such arrangements and state laws vary widely. Those differences can create complicated disputes over parental rights, medical decisions and custody. The Supreme Court, however, is not required to take up West’s request.
West is barred from any contact with the baby
Ahmed and Gilkar have not responded to the Supreme Court filing and attorneys for the couple did not respond to phone or email requests for comment. They have previously said West violated the surrogacy contract, and obtained a restraining order preventing West from seeing or holding the child.
Gilkar called West unstable during a hearing Aug. 25 in Dallas, telling the court she was trying to take their baby away.
“He’s our child,” Gilkar said, wiping away tears.
West and her attorneys argue Gilkar and Ahmed are not committed to guaranteeing the baby will undergo surgeries or “life-saving care.”
RELATED: Aaron Rodgers Rips Monster Partner Claims After Woodley, Patrick
Both sides were publicly silent after the hearing last month and the case file was sealed, but West’s Supreme Court filing says she lost her plea in Texas to win conservatorship of the child.
The Texas court granted full credit to the California judgment on Sept. 2, according to the filing.
West believes the baby’s life is in danger
“The stakes of the decisions below are enormous,” the document says, adding that West should be recognized as the mother under Texas law. “But because of the unlawful California judgment, she has been dismissed with prejudice from the Texas proceedings and denied any information about or control over the medically fragile child.”
West believes Ahmed and Gilkar plan to put the baby into hospice care in California rather than let him undergo surgery that could save his life, according to the filing.
Without treatment, hypoplastic left heart syndrome can lead to death within days or weeks. Surgical repairs are not necessarily cures and additional surgeries or heart transplants may be needed, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The couple has said they will not provide any updates to West about the child’s condition, the filing states.
___
Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.