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California couple and Texas surrogate fight in Dallas court over newborn with heart defect

After a Tuesday hearing, a Dallas judge left a restraining order in place and did not decide custody of a baby born Aug. 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

A Dallas family-court hearing Tuesday put intended parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California across from Alaska nurse and surrogate McKenna West in a fight over a newborn with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. West refused their abortion request, gave birth Aug. 12 in Texas, and seeks conservatorship; they say a California order already names them the parents. Judge Ashley Wysocki extended a restraining order barring West from seeing the child and did not issue a final custody ruling.

Shared facts

A Texas court this week heard arguments in the custody fight.

The judge did not rule on final custody or conservatorship Tuesday.

The couple told the court the child's condition has deteriorated.

Wysocki is expected to decide within two weeks while the TRO remains in place.

The legal fight is over who has custody and who makes health decisions for the child.

The order prevents West from seeing or making medical decisions for the child.

Gilkar said the baby is their child.

Gilkar said that was not West's decision to make.

About halfway through the pregnancy the couple received an HLHS diagnosis.

There is a dispute over the possibility of terminating the pregnancy.

West traveled from Alaska to deliver the child in Texas.

West at one point said she would drop parentage and custody claims, but later said she would continue fighting.

West delivered the child on Aug. 12 in Texas.

West confirmed she withheld medical documents from the couple.

Anti-abortion groups have intervened to support West.

Gilkar said West did not tell them she was moving to Texas.

The intended parents are Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California.

West and her legal team call him Baby Gabriel.

West's lawyers said she is pursuing sole conservatorship to oversee his medical treatment.

McKenna West is a nurse from Alaska who acted as the surrogate.

West did not terminate the pregnancy and instead gave birth.

Abortion is not allowed in Texas.

They went through eight rounds of IVF.

West said she scheduled an abortion at 23 weeks after the couple requested it.

Gilkar then had a hysterectomy, and they got a surrogate.

The couple say they love the child and intend to do whatever they can to keep him alive.

The parents made clear they wanted this child.

West testified the baby had a great chance at survival and a long, meaningful life despite the diagnosis.

The baby was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, in which one side of the heart is underdeveloped.

Court filings said the baby was in critical condition and appeared to be suffering complications after a post-birth procedure.

A California court ruled in June that the couple are the parents and have custody.

Gilkar said after the procedure Rumi is struggling to breathe and has received a transfusion.

The baby has received surgery.

Gilkar and Ahmed named the baby Rumi.

West said she felt uneasy proceeding with the abortion.

Gilkar said they held hands during the embryo transfer at her IVF facility.

West received pregnancy care in California and sometimes stayed at the couple's home.

Gilkar told the court the baby had no blood flow to the left side of his heart.

West's lawyers argued the couple could not be trusted to make health-care decisions because they had sought an abortion.

Left untreated, the condition can prove fatal within days or weeks.

It remains unclear when the judge will rule.

Domen said West entered a contract to have a child and give it away.

Fewer than 1,000 infants a year are diagnosed with the condition, according to the CDC.

That is how they got in touch with West.

West asked the Texas judge to disregard the California ruling.

Domen said they believe West is the mother of the child.

West said she was ready to fight for the baby after the diagnosis.

Surrogacy is not regulated at the federal level, and state laws can leave gaps.

Shared opinions

Gilkar called West unstable.

The core dispute over who has the baby's best interest led to an emotional, tense hearing.

Domen asked whether she would prefer Rumi alive and raised by someone else or dead.

Gilkar called the baby the most beautiful person she has seen, the love of their lives, and said he is suffering a lot.

Associated Press

Couple, surrogate escalate fight over newborn

Jamie Stengle and Anna Wilder

27 Aug 2026

Facts

Gilkar said she did not regret requesting the abortion.

Gilkar said she did not know how to respond to Domen's question.

Opinion

No opinion marked.

CBS News

Dallas judge delays custody decision in surrogacy fight over newborn with heart defect

S.E. Jenkins

25 Aug 2026

Facts

Paxton's office intervened and secured an order requiring medical care for the newborn.

A court order says Ahmed and Gilkar, not West, are responsible for the baby's medical decisions.

Children with HLHS typically need three surgeries, the first soon after birth.

Gilkar confirmed they requested termination of the surrogate pregnancy in May.

The second surgery is usually at 4 to 6 months and the third between 18 months and 5 years.

The condition is rare and complex and can cause lifelong complications.

The baby, less than two weeks old at the hearing, remains in critical care.

Opinion

No opinion marked.

The Independent

California couple heads to Texas court in custody battle with surrogate

The Independent

26 Aug 2026

Facts

No unique facts.

Opinion

No opinion marked.

Houston Public Media

What we learned at Tuesday's tense, tearful Dallas hearing over Alaska-California surrogacy battle

Toluwani Osibamowo

26 Aug 2026

Facts

Gilkar of Los Angeles and West of Anchorage testified.

The couple say the baby's legal name is Rumi Ali Ahmed.

The contract said West would abort if doctors found a fetal abnormality and the intended parents requested it.

The dispute is playing out in three states as a test of abortion, surrogacy, parentage, and custody laws.

Gilkar first denied, then said on the stand, that they requested West get an abortion.

Tuesday was the first time Gilkar spoke about the case publicly.

Gilkar said they are committed to the later Glenn and Fontan open-heart surgeries.

They retained a pediatric cardiology team that can care for Rumi in California.

A Connecticut-based surrogacy company connected them with West a little over a year ago.

Gilkar said she learned of the Norwood newborn open-heart surgery after Rumi was born.

West scheduled abortion appointments in Seattle and California and canceled both.

Gilkar testified she picked the name on her birthday, March 16.

West said the couple decided that weekend to terminate the pregnancy.

West has said she would adopt the child.

West has two other young children.

West, 28, acknowledged she is not Rumi's genetic parent.

West said she does not trust they will keep seeking care because Gilkar does not regret the abortion request.

West said she started bringing up Texas hospitals days after the diagnosis.

After West moved to Texas on July 15, she said the couple wanted her to deliver in California.

Domen said Texas family law makes West the mother because she gave birth.

West started researching treatments the same day as the diagnosis.

West said they offered to pay her another month if she rescheduled the abortion.

Budner argued the case is parentage, not custody, and a California judge already named Gilkar and Ahmed the parents.

A friend put West in contact with Live Action.

Members of the Alliance Defending Freedom are among West's attorneys.

West said she felt the baby move beginning at 16 or 17 weeks.

Domen argued only Texas has jurisdiction because the child was born in Texas.

West said the couple's demands increased after she canceled the abortions.

West wrote that the parents' commitment to life-saving care was all it would take to end the fight.

Budner said the Constitution requires full faith and credit for the California order.

West said a friend had raised about $128,000 through a fundraiser titled Help McKenna Fight for Baby Gabriel's Life.

Budner accused West of seeking a favorable jurisdiction to relitigate issues decided in Alaska and California.

A Children's Health attorney said the hospital needs clarity given orders requiring life-saving care regardless of the genetic parents' decisions.

Guardian ad litem Susan Duesler said she is focused on the child's best interests.

Duesler rebuked West for writing an op-ed and publicizing the case.

Opinion

Gilkar said it is all about her son.

West said the idea of the abortion was terrifying.

Budner said they want to rewrite Texas law and the Constitution and eradicate surrogacy.

Domen said West decided not to go through with what he called a choice to murder the child.

Duesler said the three-state fight could have been handled privately without press, podcasts, or public comments from people who will never meet Rumi.

PBS News

Custody fight erupts after surrogate refuses abortion for baby with heart condition

Amna Nawaz and Layla Quran

26 Aug 2026

Facts

Anti-abortion activists pushing for new surrogacy restrictions have focused on the case.

The couple say West initially agreed to an abortion, then changed her mind and cut off contact.

West testified she got connected with an anti-abortion group.

Gilkar and Ahmed struggled to conceive on their own.

Luthra said the group flew West to Texas.

West is seeking to reverse the California parentage ruling and gain custody.

The Texas attorney general got involved in the case.

The anti-abortion movement is also having a broader conversation about IVF and surrogacy.

Opinion

Luthra said HLHS is one of the more complicated diagnoses.

Luthra said the couple's fertility struggle was quite devastating.

Luthra said the case is a natural way for abortion opponents to discuss surrogacy because it is about abortion.

Luthra said attention on surrogacy could lay groundwork for IVF restrictions.

Many abortion opponents oppose surrogacy very strongly.

Luthra said if the case leads to restrictions it starts a conversation about who can access IVF and where.