A surrogate mother who declined to end her pregnancy after doctors diagnosed the unborn baby with a severe heart defect has lost her final attempt to bring her custody dispute before the US Supreme Court.
McKenna West had asked the nation’s highest court to intervene in the extraordinary case involving the five-week-old boy. West calls him Gabriel, while his biological parents refer to him as Rumi.
Justice Elena Kagan rejected West’s emergency application today, leaving intact a California court order that recognizes Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the child’s legal guardians.
“We are grateful that Rumi can continue receiving the treatment he needs to survive, and that he will not be stripped away from his parents, who are ensuring their child receives top-notch medical care,” Ahmed and Gilkar’s legal team told the Daily Mail.
“Ms. West’s legal filings across three states, numerous courts of appeals, and now the U.S. Supreme Court have sought to undermine Rumi’s parents’ right to provide him with the care he needs. Those efforts have been rejected by every single court.”
The decision came as the first photographs of the newborn were released, showing the tiny boy surrounded by tubes and medical equipment. A long scar runs down the center of his chest after emergency heart surgery.
The images, obtained by the Daily Mail from Ahmed and Gilkar, provide a public glimpse of the baby at the heart of the bitter custody battle.
Rumi was born in Dallas on August 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare and potentially fatal condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped and unable to circulate blood properly.
He underwent complex surgery soon after birth. His parents later told a Texas court that he developed serious complications and that his condition worsened, at one point requiring doctors to re-intubate him.
The baby was born in Dallas on August 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare and potentially fatal congenital condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped
Surrogate mother McKenna West declined to terminate the pregnancy after doctors discovered that the unborn baby had a serious heart defect
The decision leaves in place a California court ruling recognizing Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the child’s legal parents
The complicated legal dispute began while West was pregnant.
After unsuccessful IVF treatments, the couple turned to surrogacy and entered into an agreement with West, a cardiac nurse from Anchorage, Alaska, in August 2025. The contract included a provision allowing an abortion if a fetal abnormality was detected.
West later said the couple asked her to terminate the pregnancy after an ultrasound at about 20 weeks revealed the baby’s heart condition.
She refused and traveled to Texas to give birth, as the parties disputed what the surrogacy agreement allowed the intended parents to require.
West’s attorneys have argued that she was concerned the couple might decline potentially lifesaving treatment for the baby. She has sought custody or conservatorship, saying she wants to ensure he continues receiving medical care.
Ahmed and Gilkar have strongly rejected that account.
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The couple has acknowledged asking West to end the pregnancy after learning of the diagnosis but denied ever intending to withhold lifesaving treatment from their son.
Gilkar told a Dallas judge last month that she and her husband were committed to securing the care Rumi needs. She also said West’s “unstable” behavior was making an already tragic situation even more difficult.
The tiny five-week-old lies amid tubes, wires and breathing equipment following major heart surgery, as the bitter legal battle over his future continues
It looked unlikely that the Supreme Court would grant the appeal as the justices do not usually get involved in family disputes. Kagan, who handles emergency applications arising from California, rejected West’s request without issuing a detailed explanation.
Their attorney has argued that West’s legal campaign could create confusion over who has authority to make crucial medical decisions while the baby is undergoing treatment.
‘She’s making us run from doctor to doctor, state to state with our baby. She’s trying to take him,’ Gilkar previously testified.
In court filings, the couple also accused West of violating their surrogacy agreement and maintained that they, rather than the surrogate, are the child’s parents.
The legal fight intensified just before the birth when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened and obtained a court order requiring the newborn to receive lifesaving medical treatment.
West’s supporters have rallied around her refusal to end the pregnancy, turning the case into a national contention over abortion, surrogacy and parental rights.
The case has drawn support from anti-abortion organizations and Republican officials, while also exposing the complicated legal questions that arise when surrogacy contracts cross state lines.
There is no comprehensive federal law governing surrogacy, leaving states with different approaches to parental rights and surrogacy agreements.
But West’s attempts to secure custody have repeatedly been rejected.
West’s case has drawn support from anti-abortion organizations and Republican officials, while also exposing the complicated legal questions that arise when surrogacy contracts cross state lines. For the moment, the legal parents remain Ahmed and Gilkar, and the Texas Supreme Court’s decision means they can move their son to California for treatment
A Texas judge ruled on September 2 against West’s attempt to obtain sole conservatorship and dismissed her from the case, while a California court recognized them as his legal parents.
On September 18, the Texas Supreme Court also cleared the way for the baby to leave Texas and be taken to Los Angeles for treatment, saying that preserving the medically fragile child’s life was the paramount concern.
West then took her fight to the US Supreme Court, asking Justice Kagan to block the California judgment and preserve her ability to advocate for the baby. Now the US Supreme Court has declined to intervene.
The decision does not resolve every underlying dispute between West and the couple, but it leaves the existing custody arrangement intact and the newborn will stay with Ahmed and Gilkar.