EBENEZERAmericas
Biological parents have secured restraining order against surrogate as lawsuit continues and baby receives care
Read full story on theguardian.com →
US news — Gabrielle Canon and agencies
The baby with a rare life-threatening heart defect at the center of a legal battle between his biological parents and the surrogate who carried him is in critical condition , court documents show, as the escalating custody case continues.
“He’s our child,” the baby’s biological mother Nausheen Gilkar told the court on Tuesday, wiping away tears on the witness stand. “She’s unstable,” Gilkar said of surrogate McKenna West, who was sitting across from her in the Dallas courtroom. “She’s trying to take him from us.”
As they claimed the baby’s condition had worsened, Gilkar and the baby’s biological father, Omar Ahmed, said they were anguished by attempts to deny them parental rights because they previously had wanted an abortion.
The hearing offered the fullest public airing to date of a deepening and high-profile dispute over surrogacy and abortion that has rushed right-to-life groups and GOP officeholders to the side of West, a nurse who flew from Alaska to have the baby on 12 August in Texas, where most abortions are banned.
Gilkar and Ahmed say they named the newborn Rumi. Attorneys for West, who has called the child Gabriel, said she is seeking sole conservatorship to make medical decisions for the child.
It was not clear when the judge would issue an order in the case.
Related: Surrogate mother who fled to Texas gives birth to baby with severe heart defect
The baby, who has hypoplastic left heart syndrome , has been receiving care in Texas. The congenital defect in which one side of the organ is underdeveloped, preventing normal blood flow, requires several surgeries to correct. Fewer than 1,000 newborns each year have the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Without treatment, death can occur within days or weeks.
Shortly after his birth, Ken Paxton, the Texas state attorney general, secured a court ruling so that the baby would receive live-saving treatment in the state, and a Dallas county judge issued an emergency order preventing the parents from taking him out of Texas while the case continued.
The biological parents were awarded custody after the baby’s birth, and filed a temporary restraining order barring West from seeing or holding the child.
The judge did not rule on final custody or conservatorship Tuesday, and the restraining order was left in effect.
West told the court that she was 23 weeks pregnant when she made an appointment for an abortion at the couple’s urging, but was not comfortable with it.
“I knew that this baby, despite the diagnosis, had a great chance at survival and a great chance at leading a long life,” West said.
Since surgery, Gilkar said, he has gasped for air, choked on tubes and needed a blood transfusion. “He’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen,” Gilkar said. “He’s the love of our lives. He’s suffering a lot.”
According to the biological parents, West violated the surrogacy contract they entered into in August 2025, which they claim had a clause for abortion. The California couple went through eight rounds of in vitro fertilization in Los Angeles until Gilkar said her body “gave up”. She had to undergo a hysterectomy, she said, adding: “It was not my first choice. It was my only option.”
The couple’s attorney referenced court records from California that determined West has no rights to legal or physical custody.
West and her attorneys are arguing that she has a right to custody because she was willing to fight for him since the diagnosis, and that Gilkar and Ahmed were not committed to guaranteeing that the baby would undergo surgeries or “life-saving care”.
On the stand, West said that if the court found that the couple were committed to the baby receiving the surgeries, she would drop any custody claims.
Surrogacy is not regulated on a federal level, and experts say each state has its own laws, which can leave room for gaps in interpretation.
Jeff Domen, an attorney for West, repeatedly pressed Gilkar on the couple’s desire to terminate the pregnancy, asking her to confirm that she had requested it. Asked whether she regretted the decision, Gilkar responded that she did not.
West’s attorneys have previously claimed that Texas law considers the woman who gives birth to the child to be the “mother”.
“We believe Ms West is the mother of this child,” Domen said.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
“He’s our child,” the baby’s biological mother Nausheen Gilkar told the court on Tuesday, wiping away tears on the witness stand. “She’s unstable,” Gilkar said of surrogate McKenna West, who was sitting across from her in the Dallas courtroom. “She’s trying to take him from us.”
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Gabrielle Canon and agencies. Published 26 Aug 2026, 08:40 pm.
Most relevant
The men have spent years at Guantánamo Bay, with legal proceedings mired in pre-trial conflicts over CIA’s interrogation methods
Read on theguardian.com →
