When McKenna West, a cardiac nurse from Alaska, agreed to become the surrogate for a California couple late last year, she had no way of knowing that the decision would put her name in national headlines. However, when the baby she was carrying was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome in April, that all started to change.
The biological parents — Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed — pushed for an abortion and, initially, West agreed. However, she had a change of heart before going through with it and eventually sought refuge in Texas to ensure the child could be born and would be well-positioned to receive the necessary surgeries to save his life. (Eventually the Ahmeds also shifted their focus from pushing for an abortion to where the child should be born.)
The day before West gave birth, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened, and a judge in Dallas ruled that the baby must be given the necessary treatment and remain in Texas while also granting the biological parents’ request that West not be allowed to make medical decisions for the child or be around him.
Sparse details
The baby boy — who was named Rumi by his birth parents and Gabriel by West — has since received the first of those surgeries and is recovering. Details are sparse, though, and representatives for Gilkar and Ahmed have said they don’t intend to offer any further updates on the situation. However, the parents are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday (Aug. 24), at which point a judge will rule on the temporary restraining order they filed against West, so it’s likely they will have to provide updates at that point.
Until then, the story is likely to continue generating controversy, particularly because few seem to be able to agree on the details of what actually precipitated West’s flight to Texas.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and originally published by the Denison Forum.
