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The Trump administration has gotten involved in a legal case involving a surrogate and her refusal to terminate her pregnancy, despite the biological parents' request.
Alaskan native McKenna West was a surrogate for a California couple when doctors found at around 20 weeks that the unborn baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).
This is a rare condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped, and while the condition can be treated with surgery shortly after birth, children could face lifelong health issues.
Following this sad news, the baby's biological parents asked West to terminate the pregnancy, which they were entitled to request under the terms of the surrogacy agreement.
But she instead refused to adhere to the demands of biological parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed and travelled to Texas, where abortion laws are among the strictest in the US.
Following the legal dispute, the surrogate has been prohibited from seeing or holding the baby.
The baby was born prematurely on Wednesday, August 12, despite the contract reportedly stating that termination was allowed if a fetal "anomaly" was discovered during the pregnancy.
A Texas court ruled that West could remain in the state and seek medical treatment for the baby's heart condition, and "Baby Gabriel" is receiving treatment, as per The Dallas Morning News.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton further stated: "Baby Gabriel deserves a chance at life, and I will not allow anyone to unlawfully deny him medically necessary care."
The court order, which was issued on Tuesday, read: "Upon the child's live birth, medically indicated stabilizing and life-sustaining care shall be provided to the child pending further order of this Court.
"No person shall withhold, direct the withholding of, obstruct, or delay that care."
Now, officials from the Trump administration have got involved, as the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (HHS) is supporting the court order.
The HHS Civil Rights office also contacted two Texas hospitals to remind them that withholding medical treatment based on disability is against the law.
The department also told Fox News that this extends to life-sustaining treatment, as officials said they would also be writing to Children's Medical Center for Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center about the protections.
"The court has made the right decision in immediately acting to protect baby Gabriel’s life and ensure he receives the care he deserves," Paxton said after the court order.
He further explained: "My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel’s well-being.
"Every child in our state deserves to be cared for and protected, and that’s exactly what I’ll fight for."
The intended parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, are due to appear at another court hearing on August 25.
Their attorney, Lee Budner, said their sole priority is making sure their son receives the treatment he needs while allowing them to be with him.
"Our clients’ only focus at this time is ensuring that their baby receives the medical care that he vitally needs and that they, as his parents, are able to spend every precious moment they can with him," Budner said.
He added: "Our clients will continue, as they always have, to place their baby’s health and well-being first, following the advice of the baby’s medical team, just as any loving parent would."
Budner also accused West and her legal representatives of turning the baby's situation into "political theater", arguing that his birth and medical condition had been caught up in the wider legal battle.
Meanwhile, a court order currently prevents West from seeing or holding the newborn.
Her attorney, Lincoln Wilson, has questioned whether Gilkar and Ahmed have been genetically confirmed as the baby's biological parents, claiming that genetic testing has not yet taken place.
Wilson has also said West would consider seeking custody of the baby if the courts allowed.
He further criticized the terms of the original surrogacy agreement, describing it as "offensive to state and federal law" and calling it a "hit man contract."
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A surrogate has given birth to a baby she fought to carry to term, but has now been prohibited from seeing or holding him following a bitter legal dispute with his intended parents.
McKenna West, from Alaska, was acting as a surrogate for a California couple when doctors discovered at around 20 weeks that the unborn baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped.
The condition can be treated with surgery shortly after birth, although children who survive can face significant lifelong health complications.
After learning about the diagnosis, the baby's biological parents reportedly asked West to terminate the pregnancy, something they were entitled to request under the terms of the surrogacy agreement.
The contract reportedly contained a provision allowing for termination if a fetal "anomaly" was discovered during the pregnancy. West refused and subsequently travelled to Texas, where abortion laws are among the most restrictive in the US.
A court in Texas later ruled that West could remain there and seek medical treatment for the baby's heart condition.
The baby has now been born prematurely and is receiving medical treatment. West's lawyers have referred to him as "Baby Gabriel", according to The Dallas Morning News.
Texas lawyer General Ken Paxton has also become involved in the dispute, declaring: "Baby Gabriel deserves a chance at life, and I will not allow anyone to unlawfully deny him medically necessary care."
A court order issued on Tuesday stated: "Upon the child's live birth, medically indicated stabilizing and life-sustaining care shall be provided to the child pending further order of this Court."
The order further stated: "No person shall withhold, direct the withholding of, obstruct, or delay that care."
The intended parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, are due to appear at a hearing on August 25.
Their attorney, Lee Budner, said their sole priority is making sure their son receives the treatment he needs while allowing them to be with him.
"Our clients’ only focus at this time is ensuring that their baby receives the medical care that he vitally needs and that they, as his parents, are able to spend every precious moment they can with him," Budner said.
He added: "Our clients will continue, as they always have, to place their baby’s health and well-being first, following the advice of the baby’s medical team, just as any loving parent would."
Budner also accused West and her legal representatives of turning the baby's situation into "political theater", arguing that his birth and medical condition had been caught up in the wider legal battle.
Meanwhile, a court order currently prevents West from seeing or holding the newborn.
Her attorney, Lincoln Wilson, has questioned whether Gilkar and Ahmed have been genetically confirmed as the baby's biological parents, claiming that genetic testing has not yet taken place.
Wilson has also said West would consider seeking custody of the baby if the courts allowed.
He has further attacked the terms of the original surrogacy agreement, describing it as "offensive to state and federal law" and even calling it a "hit man contract."
1. At the end of the day, it's your choice
2. You're not selfish
3. Never hold anyone to a promise they made years and years ago
4. Tokophobia is a serious condition
5. Carrying a child is a serious commitment
6. It's a tough thing to say
7. She'll come around eventually
8. There has to be something in it for you, too
9. You tried, and that's all that counts
10. It's a lot to ask of someone
11. To each their own
12. It must have been difficult
12. It's easy to feel guilty in situations like this
13. Fair
Well, there you have it. It's evident that being a surrogate is a difficult, and life-changing decision, and while we must admire those who undertake the opportunity, it's important remember that it's a highly personal decision.A surrogate is fighting for custody of a baby she carried to term after claiming she had an affair with the child's father.
Per court documents obtained by The Daily Beast, the woman in question hails from British Columbia in Canada, and is referred to purely by the initials "K.B." to protect her identity.
K.B. claims that she met the father, who had been married to his wife for five years at the time, in 2014 and the pair began having an affair shortly afterwards.
During the affair, K.B. alleges that she fell pregnant twice but terminated each pregnancy via abortion.
Despite their complicated history, K.B. claims that she wanted to help the father, referred to as M.S.B in court documents, after learning he and his wife were having problems conceiving and agreed to be the couple's surrogate.
However, after a failed attempt to inseminate her artificially, K.B alleges that M.S.B. asked her to consider falling pregnant with his child naturally.
At the time, the duo were allegedly still having an affair with M.S.B. reportedly promising to leave his wife for K.B. after the baby was born with the intention that they would raise the child together instead as husband and wife.
But fast forward for years and M.S.B has not left his wife and the couple are now denying K.B. any visitation rights at all.
K.B. is now contesting this in the province’s top court, claiming she had a maternal role in the child’s life during the baby's first two years: breastfeeding her, changing diapers and seeing her around six times per week.
With regards to her decision to sign an agreement in which she handed over full custody to the couple, K.B. insists she only did this as she believed it was necessary for her daughter to receive health insurance.
However, M.S.B and his wife forced the surrogate to cut contact after she began making "progressively greater demands" such as a $100,000 payment and scheduled visits with the child.
Court documents show that presiding judge, Supreme Court Justice Warren Milman, said: "Given the highly unusual facts of this case, there is no comparable precedent driving me to any particular result on this issue."
Despite this, he ultimately ruled that the child needed stability and that contact with K.B. would not currently be in the child's best interests.
He concluded: "KB has not met the burden she carries to show that an order allowing her to resume contact with [the child] at this stage would be in [the child's] best interests. It follows that her application must be refused."
Spanish TV actress Ana Obregón has revealed that the baby she had by surrogacy was actually fathered by her dead son.
Obregón, 68, revealed that she had paid for surrogacy in the US in order to fulfill her late son Aless Lequio's final wish to start a family.
In Spain, it is illegal to have a woman give birth on your behalf but adopting a child that has been born via surrogacy abroad is considered lawful.
Prior to Lequio's death from cancer at the age of 27 in 2020, his sperm was frozen and stored in New York, and the surrogate is believed to have been a woman of Cuban origin living in Florida.
Speaking of the unusual arrangement, Obregón told ¡Hola! magazine: "This girl isn't my daughter, she's my granddaughter."
She said that she and her son had spoken about his final wish to have a baby a week before his death, adding: "This was Aless's final wish, to bring a child of his own into the world."
Obregón's decision to go ahead with surrogacy in the US despite the practice being illegal in Spain caused controversy and attracted attention from ministers in the left-wing government.
She believes the national debate her decision created was "absurd" as surrogacy is legal in most countries in the world besides Spain.
While surrogacy is legal in many countries, there are different rules about whether a woman can be paid to bear a child for another, with some only allowing her expenses to be covered rather than large payments to compensate the surrogate.
Equality Minister Irene Montero condemned the practice as "a form of violence against women" and others have questioned whether there is an ethical issue with the child being adopted by a grandparent.
Under Article 175 of Spain's civil code, per the BBC, a grandparent is not entitled to adopt a "descendant", however, the loophole in Obregón's case is that she is legally the child's mother, despite being her grandmother biologically.
Using the semen of a dead man is a common practice for assisted reproduction in Spain but is only allowed within 12 months of the man's death and the mother would have to be his widow.
Social philosophy commentator Gonzalo Velasco also discussed the ethical implications of Obregón's decision, telling Cadena SER radio station: "Ana Obregón has taken it upon herself to interpret her dead son's wishes and that is going too far.
"No child is ever the property of his parents and neither is a dead child. No mother or father has the power to interpret the wishes of their child."
Obregón's former partner, Alessandro Lequio, who is her son's father, also declined to comment on the baby's birth.
The baby, who has been named Ana Sandra, is set to be registered at the Spanish consulate in Miami, where Obregón currently is before the pair fly to Madrid together.
Obregón has also refused to rule out giving the baby girl a brother or sister in the future.
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