McKenna West, a 28-year-old nurse and mother of two from Alaska, agreed in 2025 to carry a child for California couple Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed through Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists.
The agreement contained provisions addressing termination of the pregnancy if serious fetal abnormalities were discovered.
Months later, an ultrasound revealed that the unborn child had hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare congenital defect in which the left side of the heart does not develop properly.
The biological parents wanted West to abort the child, but she traveled to Texas and began fighting to save his life and to be recognized as his legal mother.
However, Gilkar and Ahmed obtained custody as per a court ruling after West gave birth on August 12. They insist the boy's name is Rumi, while West and her supporters call him Gabriel.
Now the biological parents have escalated the dispute even further.
The biological parents are seeking $100,000 in a lawsuit accusing West of breaching the surrogacy contract
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A countersuit was filed by Gilkar and Ahmed weeks before the birth became public on August 19.
According to TMZ, the couple is asking a judge to award them more than $100,000 for West's alleged breach of the surrogacy agreement.
They are reportedly also seeking unspecified additional damages for what they characterize as her “malicious, outrageous conduct.”
They say they had already paid West $60,000 during the pregnancy and argue that her previous pregnancies meant she understood the obligations she was accepting when she signed the contract.
LilaGraceRose
The couple also claims West's actions caused them emotional distress and have denied threatening West to undergo abortion.
West, meanwhile, continues to deny wrongdoing.
Her attorney, Lincoln Wilson, has claimed Gilkar and Ahmed “haven't given [West] anything” since she refused to terminate the pregnancy, leaving her facing major travel and legal expenses while she pursues her own claims.
West's supporters subsequently turned to online fundraising to help cover her expenses.
West felt "trapped" by the surrogacy contract she had signed with the biological parents
Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
West was originally supposed to give birth on September 2, but went into labor two weeks early.
The baby received immediate medical care and surgery for HLHS, and has been “recuperating under the loving care of his parents,” said the biological parents’ attorney, Lee Budner.
According to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, with surgical treatment, the survival rate to age 5 is 72%, and the survival rate to age 18 is approximately 90%. The oldest person to survive HLHS is in their 30s, the hospital says.
West previously told Live Action News that when she learned about the intended parents’ wish to terminate the pregnancy, she felt “really scared” and devastated: “I felt I had no other option, no way out. It was just a horrible feeling.”
That is when she decided to take legal action to save the baby’s life, fully aware of the clause that was in the agreement she had signed.
“Going into this, we had talked about it when we first met, and I asked them their views on termination, and it was a reassuring conversation that they really wanted a baby,” West said.
The Megyn Kelly Show
“They weren’t exactly sure what decision they would make if something came up, but they ultimately just wanted to be parents, so I felt confident moving forward with them that termination would not be their first choice.”
She added that she felt “trapped” due to this contract and felt she “had no voice,” but she knew in her heart that she wanted to protect the baby.
West has plans to keep fighting for the child's custody despite legal setbacks
Aditya Romansa/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
As Bored Panda previously reported, the case took on a political dimension when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened shortly before the birth.
Paxton accused Gilkar and Ahmed of refusing to authorize life-saving surgery and sought assurances that hospitals would treat the newborn.
The parents disputed the broader portrayal of their intentions, and their attorney accused both Paxton and West of turning an intensely personal medical crisis into “political theater.”
McKenna West
A Dallas judge ordered that the child receive life-sustaining treatment after birth and remain in Texas pending further proceedings.
But West did not obtain the parental authority she was seeking.
In a separate order, the judge granted Gilkar and Ahmed's request to prevent West from making medical decisions for the child or representing herself as his mother.
A California court had already recognized the couple as the child's legal parents, and an appellate court rejected West's effort to prevent that judgment from taking effect.
McKenna West
Despite those setbacks, Wilson said West intended to continue fighting.
“She is seeking parentage of the child because she gave birth in Texas, and in Texas, if you give birth to a child, it's your child,” he said.
“We think that once that California judgment is removed ... that basically she is the mother under Texas law.”
"She should refund any and all payments." The internet has been debating over the fate of the baby for weeks
