Baby at center of surrogacy rights case is born in Dallas

The biological parents won a temporary restraining order against the surrogate, who tried to claim parental rights, and are with their baby, their attorneys say.

By Terri Langford and Katlyn Ma

Aug. 12, 2026, 5:52 p.m. Central

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The Children’s Health Specialty Center in Dallas on June 22, 2022.

The Children’s Health Specialty Center in Dallas on June 22, 2022. Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune

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The baby boy at the center of an out-of-state surrogacy battle that is pitting the Texas attorney general against the California biological parents was born in Dallas on Wednesday, lawyers for the birth parents and the surrogate confirmed.

The child, who has a congenital heart issue, was born via a surrogate, McKenna West, of Alaska, who had traveled to Texas after she said the child’s biological parents had tried to force her to terminate the pregnancy, something the child’s biological parents deny.

“Our clients’ child was born earlier this morning and he is now receiving medical care provided by a team of pediatric experts,” Lee Budner said in a statement to The Texas Tribune, speaking for his clients Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, the biological parents of the baby. “McKenna West’s baseless attempts to intervene in the child’s medical care have been soundly rejected by the courts.”

Gilkar and Ahmed are at the hospital with the baby, who they say is not named Gabriel, despite Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and West calling the baby by that name.

The couple’s attorney said the baby is receiving medical care and accused West and Paxton of turning a family tragedy into “political theater.”

“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.

The baby West was carrying was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome — where the left side of the heart is underdeveloped — at 20 weeks of pregnancy. West asked a Dallas court to recognize her parental right as the birth mother to intervene in medical treatment for the baby.

On Tuesday, Paxton announced he was intervening on behalf of West, alleging Gilkar and Ahmed refused to consent to life-saving surgery for the heart issue — Budner did not address this in his statement — and were trying to bring the child back to California before he was born.

On Tuesday, a Dallas judge ordered that the child be given life-saving treatment upon birth and that the child must remain in Texas.

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In a separate order, the judge also granted the biological parents’ request that prevents West from making any medical decision for the child and representing herself as the child’s mother, reinforcing the couple’s rights as the parents.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Aug. 25.

Lincoln Wilson, West’s attorney, told The Texas Tribune on Wednesday that West does not have access to the baby.

Wilson said West began her surrogacy journey when she matched with Gilkar and Ahmed through Connecticut-based Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists, LLC. West got along well with Gilkar and Ahmed, although there were a few minor bumps along the way with reimbursement payments, Wilson said.

Their relationship deteriorated after the couple forced West to get an abortion following the baby’s heart condition diagnosis, Wilson said.

“She described it as fear because basically she was going to be asked to do something to the child that she carried that was fundamentally offensive to her, and she couldn’t imagine ending the life of the child that she carried inside her,” Wilson said.

The parents’ legal team denied that Gilkar and Ahmed forced her to have an abortion. In court documents filed July 20 in Alaska, the birth parents said West agreed with the decision to terminate.

“After heartbreaking consultations with medical providers and their own research about the suffering and quality of life HLHS babies endure, A.B. and C.D. (birth parents) made the difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy,” a filing from the parents’ attorneys reads. “It is undisputed that West initially agreed and that she herself made the initial appointment. She then unilaterally changed her mind, cut off all contact with A.B. and C.D., and withdrew medical releases allowing A.B. and C.D. to have contact with all medical providers.”

The filing said according to doctors, the heart defect increased the risk of neurological development issues, generally require lifelong treatment and has no cure. West “posed a significant risk” to the child’s health by deciding on her own where to deliver and she refused “important medical testing” to assess for other abnormalities. Doctors need those results to plan for procedures after he is born, the filing said.

According to Wilson, West said her brother guided her through the dispute and suggested he could adopt the baby if she did not want to go through with an abortion. With this knowledge West decided to carry the baby to term, Wilson said.

But, Gilkar and Ahmed’s attorneys say that the couple had already decided to see the pregnancy through to delivery.

According to court documents filed in Alaska, the biological parents consulted with specialists in Los Angeles and Dallas and had determined that their chosen course of action was to have West deliver in California and the baby who they call Rumi would then begin lifelong treatment there.

“West is harming Rumi by relocating to Texas, requiring him to be born in Texas, away from his parents and the specialized cardiac team in Los Angeles that will provide his lifelong care,” the court filing states. “Her actions are forcing Rumi to begin treatment (including critical heart surgery) in one state and be transferred to another.”

A California trial court has already established that the couple are the rightful parents of the child West was carrying as a surrogate. An appellate court rejected West’s request to stop the trial court judgment from taking effect.

West is seeking legal protection in Texas because the state’s family law recognizes anyone who gives birth in Texas as the legal mother of that child.

Despite the California rulings and the Dallas judge’s Tuesday ruling, Wilson still argues that West “is lawfully the parent because she gave birth to this child that she carries in Texas, then she should control custody as well.”

Reporter (((Joshua Fechter))) contributed to this story.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5892696&forum_id=2],#50065264)