The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the intended parents of a seriously ill newborn can take the child back to California.
Pregnant surrogate McKenna West travelled to Texas after a scan revealed the fetus had hypoplastic left heart syndrome – a severe congenital heart defect – prompting intended parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed to request a termination. After Gilkar and Ahmed were granted custody, West submitted an emergency petition to the US Supreme Court to prevent them from leaving Texas with the child, who has already undergone one heart surgery and will require more.
The Texas Supreme Court ruling was based on 'uncontroverted medical testimony of the child's Texas physician indicating that "the child’s best interest in order to preserve the child’s life as long as possible [i]s an ICU-to-ICU transfer."'
McKenna travelled to Texas to give birth because abortion is not permitted there, and she believed she would be recognised as the child's mother under Texan law. The Texan Attorney General Ken Paxton became involved prior to the birth, and hospitals were ordered to provide lifesaving care when the child was born in August (see BioNews 1353).
However, following the birth, a Dallas court upheld the ruling of a California court which granted custody of the child to Gilkar and Ahmed, and prevented West from having contact with the child. West had sought custody, claiming that she feared that the couple might move the infant to hospice care in California.
Gilkar and Ahmed's submission to the Texas High Court refuted this, saying: 'The Guardian Ad Litem testified that the parents "have followed the recommendations of the doctors to a T" and the doctors have "unequivocally, no" concerns regarding the parents' medical decision-making'.
In previous court proceedings in Dallas, Gilkar defended the couple's bond with the child, noting they turned to surrogacy after eight unsuccessful rounds of IVF and a hysterectomy.
'He's the most beautiful person I've ever seen,' she said. 'He's suffering a lot'.
West's emergency petition to pause the California judgment and keep the infant in Texas remains under review by the US Supreme Court.
Sources and References
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Texas Supreme Court rules baby delivered by surrogate can leave Texas
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Baby born via surrogate can leave Texas for treatment in California, court rules
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Surrogate mother who fled to Texas appeals custody case to supreme court
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MW v Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles
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Surrogate who refused abortion over heart defect takes custody battle to US Supreme Court
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Texas judge: Alaskan surrogate does not have custody over child she birthed in Dallas
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IN RE M.W.; from Dallas County; 5th Court of Appeals District
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