A Dallas County judge issued a temporary restraining order protecting an unborn baby with a treatable heart defect after a surrogate refused the biological parents' demand for an abortion, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton backed her fight.
McKenna West, an Alaska nurse and single mother of two, carried the baby for months before a routine ultrasound changed everything. The 20-week anatomy scan revealed the child had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe heart condition that requires surgery shortly after birth but is far from a death sentence. West researched the condition, found a Dallas hospital with a 100 percent success rate in recent years on the critical first operation, and told the surrogacy agency she could relocate to Texas and stay with a friend to keep costs down.
The biological parents, California couple Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, were not interested. Their Connecticut-based surrogacy agency, Worldwide Surrogacy Specialist LLC, relayed the couple's concerns about the baby's future quality of life. Then came the call West had feared: the parents officially requested she undergo an abortion.
West refused. She would have been 24 weeks pregnant at the time. In court documents, she described being appalled at the prospect of doctors injecting 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", when the condition is treatable.
Gilkar and Ahmed did not accept West's decision quietly. Breitbart reported the couple invoked an "abortion on demand" clause in the surrogacy contract and threatened to sue West for $250,000 if she refused to terminate the pregnancy. West held firm.
She named the child Gabriel and flew to Texas, where state law recognizes anyone who gives birth in the state as the legal mother of that child. Her brother reached out and offered to adopt the baby. West also filed a counter-suit in Alaska's Superior Court seeking sole custody so she could authorize doctors in Texas to treat Gabriel after birth.
Gilkar and Ahmed, meanwhile, filed their own lawsuit in a California court seeking to establish parental rights. Their filing demanded West travel to California to give birth. It left open whether they would allow doctors to perform the surgery Gabriel needs, or whether they would provide only palliative "comfort care," which would result in the baby's death shortly after birth.
That ambiguity sits at the center of the case. The biological parents have not publicly committed to authorizing life-saving treatment. West has.
On Monday, Paxton submitted a legal brief to the Dallas County family district court arguing that Texas law requires physicians to provide medically necessary treatment. His office framed the dispute bluntly in its court filing: "The agreement that arranged his conception cannot require his death," the Washington Examiner reported.
Paxton also argued that the active legal disputes between West and the biological parents only seek to determine who speaks for the child, not whether life-saving treatment must be provided. He sent letters to medical facilities reminding them of their legal obligations to provide necessary care.
Less than 24 hours later, an associate judge in Dallas County acted. The temporary restraining order prevents anyone from withholding or obstructing the infant's necessary medical treatment when he is born. The judge appointed a legal guardian to ensure Gabriel receives all necessary treatments for hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
The order names the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical Center of Dallas as the two facilities where doctors' treatment decisions cannot be overridden by either party. If anyone tries to refuse the child's care, the court will hold an emergency hearing to determine whether the treatment is necessary and whether any statutory exception applies. Neither West nor the biological parents may remove the child from Texas after birth.
The New York Post reported the emergency petition also prohibits any person from removing Gabriel from the hospital pending further court order.
The ruling was not a clean sweep for West. The judge forbade her from any contact with Gabriel after his birth and barred her from making any medical decisions on his behalf. The biological parents retain medical decision-making rights, subject to the court's override if they attempt to refuse necessary treatment.
Lila Rose, founder of the pro-life organization Live Action, praised the medical protections but called the no-contact order deeply unfair. She posted on X:
"This is deeply unjust as Baby Gabriel will be separated from the only mother he's known, left to go through surgery without her comfort or support."
Rose added that Gabriel "is not a product" and that "his needs should be the top priority." West, she noted, "has been the one fighting for his protection."
Paxton framed the ruling as a clear win for the child's right to live.
"The court has made the right decision in immediately acting to protect baby Gabriel's life and ensure he receives the care he deserves. My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel's wellbeing. Every child in our state deserves to be cared for and protected, and that's exactly what I'll fight for."
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is serious. It requires three surgeries, the first performed shortly after birth. But the survival data does not support treating the condition as a reason to end a pregnancy at 24 weeks.
Babies who undergo the first surgery have a 75 percent chance of reaching the age of five, according to data from New York Presbyterian Hospital. Those who survive their first birthday have a 90 percent chance of making it to 18. And the Dallas hospital West identified has posted a 100 percent success rate in recent years on that first critical operation.
West told the Daily Mail she had felt confident the parents would choose termination and asked herself how she could "possibly live with myself going through that."
She offered to relinquish all parental rights if the biological parents agreed to authorize life-saving surgery. They did not take the offer.
The legal tangle now spans Texas, California, and Alaska. West's petition sits in Dallas County. Gilkar and Ahmed's parental rights lawsuit is in a California court. West's counter-suit for sole custody is in Alaska's Superior Court. The parties are due back in the Dallas courtroom on August 25. Gabriel is expected to be born early next month.
The Daily Mail reached out to Gilkar and Ahmed's lawyer for comment. No response was reported.
West put it plainly in a statement reported by Breitbart: "Every life matters. No woman should be forced to end the life of the baby she is carrying, including me... Baby Gabriel should receive a chance at life."
A surrogacy contract may govern who pays and who decides. It should never govern whether a child with a treatable condition gets to live.
