Baby Tug-Of-War Explodes In Texas

A newborn boy with a serious heart defect is now the center of a custody fight after his surrogate refused a request to end the pregnancy and delivered him in Texas instead of California.

Story Snapshot

Surrogate McKenna West refused a request to abort at 20 weeks after doctors found a severe heart defect.
She flew from Alaska to Texas to give birth, naming the baby Gabriel.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stepped in with emergency court orders to guarantee the baby medical care.
Biological parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed got physical custody within about a day, their lawyer says.
West is now fighting in court, arguing Texas law makes her the baby’s legal mother.

A Surrogacy Deal Falls Apart Over a Diagnosis

McKenna West, a surrogate from Alaska, was carrying a baby for California couple Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed. Around 20 weeks into the pregnancy, doctors found a rare and serious heart defect. The intended parents reportedly asked West to end the pregnancy. She refused and instead traveled to Texas, where she gave birth and named the boy Gabriel.

Gilkar and Ahmed deny ever demanding an abortion, according to reporting on the dispute. Either way, the disagreement pushed West to leave California behind and seek protection under Texas law, where she believed the baby would have a stronger chance at treatment and where she hoped to secure her own parental rights.

Texas Officials Step In Before Birth

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office got involved before the baby was even born. His office secured an emergency court order requiring hospitals to give Gabriel life-saving care once delivered, and barring anyone from blocking that treatment or moving him out of state. A University of Texas law professor explained the legal basis: anyone who gives birth in Texas is treated as the legal mother by default.

Anti-abortion groups praised the intervention as a win for the child’s life, framing the case as proof that state action can override a surrogacy contract when a baby’s health is at stake. Paxton’s office presented the move as protecting a vulnerable newborn from being denied care over a disability diagnosis.

Custody Shifts Fast After Delivery

Gabriel was born, and within about 24 hours, custody shifted to his biological parents. Their attorney confirmed the boy was in Gilkar and Ahmed’s physical custody while he received care at a specialized hospital. A separate court order has since barred West from making medical decisions for the child, even though she gave birth to him on Texas soil.

The baby has since undergone heart surgery, and his parents’ attorney says he is recovering in their care. That detail matters because it shows the custody question and the medical emergency were, for a time, running on separate tracks, with doctors treating the child while lawyers argued over who gets to decide his future.

Two States, Two Legal Claims

West’s attorney, Lincoln Wilson, argues she is the child’s legal mother simply because she gave birth in Texas, and that a prior California court order naming Gilkar and Ahmed as legal parents does not apply once the case is in Texas courts. West is now pushing back against the restraining order that keeps her from seeing or making decisions for Gabriel, insisting Texas law makes her the presumptive mother.

𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐒𝐔𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐊!𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐍

Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed paid surrogate McKenna West $60,000 to carry their son — then demanded she abort him after doctors… pic.twitter.com/3x5knUOe3z

— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) August 20, 2026

The dispute is not simple. Texas surrogacy law usually lets intended parents lock in their legal status before birth through a validated gestational agreement, which would normally override the default rule tied to who delivers the baby. Whether that agreement was properly finalized before Gabriel’s birth appears to be a central, unresolved question driving the entire fight.

A Fight That May Reach the State’s Highest Court

The case has escalated far beyond a private family matter. Reports now describe West’s legal team preparing to take the parentage question all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, betting that a higher court will settle who counts as Gabriel’s legal parent once and for all. Meanwhile, the baby remains in his biological parents’ physical custody as he continues recovering from surgery.

For a public already skeptical of institutions moving slowly or unpredictably in life-or-death situations, this case lands as a reminder that even basic questions, like who a newborn’s legal parents are, can turn into a multi-state legal maze. That confusion, playing out over a sick infant, is likely to keep drawing national attention regardless of which side ultimately wins in court.