Key facts
- The US Supreme Court declined to intervene in a custody dispute over a baby born via surrogate.
- Justice Elena Kagan denied an emergency appeal from surrogate McKenna West.
- West refused the parents' request to abort the pregnancy after a 20-week scan showed the fetus had a severe heart defect.
- West gave birth to the child in Texas, where abortions are largely illegal.
- A California court had previously granted parental rights to the couple, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed.
- The court's decision leaves in place the earlier order granting custody to the parents.
The US Supreme Court has refused to intervene in a custody dispute involving a surrogate who declined an abortion request from the parents who hired her. Justice Elena Kagan denied an emergency appeal filed by surrogate McKenna West, who sought to halt a previous ruling that granted parental rights to the California couple. The parents had asked West to terminate the pregnancy after a 20-week scan revealed the fetus had a severe heart defect. West, however, traveled to Texas, where abortions are nearly all illegal, and gave birth to the child.
The court's decision means the earlier order granting custody to the parents will remain in place. West has been seeking custody of the baby, who was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition that often requires multiple surgeries and can lead to lifelong complications. She argued that the biological parents should not have custody because she worried they would not provide the necessary medical care, given their initial request to abort the child.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had intervened in the case and secured an order requiring the child to receive medical care in Texas, where he underwent surgery shortly after birth. In a previous court hearing, the child's mother, Nausheen Gilkar, stated the baby was "our child" and "the love of our lives," according to the Associated Press. She also said West traveled to Texas without informing them and blocked their access to medical information. A California court had previously granted parental rights to Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, while a Texas court issued a restraining order preventing West from seeing the baby. West's lawyers suggested the California couple might place the child in hospice care.