A Texas court ordered Tuesday that a baby boy with a congenital heart defect must receive life-saving care after birth — blocking the California couple who commissioned his creation from having him aborted or denied surgery because he'll live with disabilities.
The case exposes the grim logic of the surrogacy industry, where children are treated as deliverables to be accepted or discarded based on quality control. Baby Gabriel, diagnosed at 20 weeks with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, now has a court-guaranteed chance at life because a surrogate mother refused to treat him as a returnable product.
Surrogate McKenna West, an Alaska resident, was carrying Gabriel for intended parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California. When the HLHS diagnosis came, the couple requested an abortion, according to a press release from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office. West refused and fled to Dallas County, Texas, for protection and to be near specialists experienced in treating the condition.
An Alaska court had already ruled that West could make her own medical decisions, including where to deliver. But that wasn't enough. Gilkar and Ahmed asked a California court to order West to give birth in their state, and they have refused to confirm they'll consent to the first surgery, which must happen within two weeks of birth. Paxton's office alleged the pair
