Surrogate McKenna West Asks Supreme Court to Halt 4-Week-Old Baby Custody Order
Updated
Updated · CNN · Sep 9
Surrogate McKenna West Asks Supreme Court to Halt 4-Week-Old Baby Custody Order
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Sep 9
Summary
McKenna West filed an emergency Supreme Court appeal Wednesday seeking to block a Sept. 2 Texas ruling that gave full effect to a California order recognizing Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the baby's parents.
West says the 4-week-old boy, born Aug. 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, needs life-saving treatment and argues the couple may instead place him in hospice, citing their earlier request that she abort at 23 weeks.
The filing follows West's failed bid in Texas for conservatorship; she is barred from contact with the child, while the couple has said she violated the surrogacy contract and obtained a restraining order.
The dispute spans California, Texas and Alaska, exposing gaps in state-by-state surrogacy law as abortion politics draw support from Republican officials and anti-abortion groups.
Supreme Court intervention appears unlikely: emergency relief is rarely granted, and the justices generally avoid family-law disputes.