In Texas, a newborn who came into the world via surrogate is now living with his biological parents. This follows a tense situation where the couple initially pushed for the unborn child to be aborted due to a concerning heart defect, as recently reported.
The child’s biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar, 43, and Omar Ahmed, 45, have taken physical custody of their baby after surrogate McKenna West delivered him on Wednesday morning. A lawyer representing the family shared these details with TMZ.
According to Lee Bunder, from the Dallas-based family law office Calabrese Bunder, the baby, whom West christened as ‘Baby Gabriel,’ is under medical care while staying with his parents.
Bunder noted that Gilkar and Ahmed are prioritizing their son’s health, closely following the guidance of health professionals regarding treatment options for his severe condition known as hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
The diagnosis was made when West was 20 weeks pregnant, revealing that the left side of his heart is underdeveloped, making it unable to effectively circulate blood throughout his body.
After the diagnosis, the California couple told West she must get an abortion, but the surrogate refused and relocated to Texas after finding a hospital in Dallas that has a high success rate for babies with the defect.
The story quickly caught the country’s attention, and just one day before his birth, West was granted clearance to get life-saving care for the baby in Texas, but she was forbidden to have contact with the child after his birth, a judge ruled.
On Wednesday, the baby was born and received life-saving surgery right away, West’s attorney, Lincoln Wilson, told The Dallas Morning News.
The surrogate baby McKenna West (pictured) gave birth to on Wednesday is now in custody of his biological parents, a new report stated
The case has caused quite a stir across the country, and up until today, there has been no comment from Gilkar and Ahmed.
According to their attorney, the couple is ‘devastated’ over the attention to it.
‘As if the heartbreak of his condition were not enough, they are devastated to see their family tragedy transformed into political theater by the Texas Attorney General’s office and McKenna West,’ Bunder said.
The child’s biological parents first mentioned that West should get an abortion after learning of the defect.
West, 28, signed a contract with the couple that included a clause that would require her to abort the baby in the event of an ‘anomaly.’
The nurse and mother-of-two from Alaska expressed concern over the clause to the Connecticut-based Worldwide Surrogacy Specialist, but the agency told her a situation like that is rare.
She went on to ask the agency if she could help financially assist the couple regarding care for their child so they wouldn’t abort him, and told his parents she’s heard of people surviving with the condition.
Despite her best efforts, Ahmed told West he and his wife had already removed the baby’s 12-week ultrasound from their fridge at home and told her she could mail the 20-week images – but to address the envelope only to him.
The story quickly caught the country’s attention, and just one day before his birth, West was granted clearance to get life-saving care for the baby, but a judge also ruled that she cannot have contact with the baby after his birth
But that’s when West discovered a hospital in Texas that had a 100 percent success rate in recent years with the first of three surgeries an affected baby would need right after birth.
She then told the surrogacy agency that she would live with a friend in Texas to mitigate the costs for the couple, but a liaison for the agency said the biological parents were still concerned about the baby’s future quality of life.
Meanwhile, West, who would have been 24-weeks pregnant at the time of the abortion, was appalled at the idea that doctors would inject the baby with ‘a solution that will stop his heart and then he’ll be literally ripped apart and dismembered as he’s taken from [her] uterus,’ Live Action previously reported.
West was soon put in touch with Live Action founder and president Lila Rose, who assured the surrogate that she would help her and her children get to Texas to meet with doctors about saving the baby’s life.
The biological parents went on to file a $250,000 lawsuit demanding that West return the money they had paid her as well as any additional charges.
They also demanded she come to them in California to give birth, but it was unclear whether they would allow doctors to perform the life-saving surgery or if they would only provide him with ‘comfort care’.
Through her attorneys, West agreed to go to California if the parents commit to providing the baby with surgery.
But West has also filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Alaska seeking sole custody of the baby so she can allow doctors in Texas to treat hi