McKenna West Will Fight in Court for Custody of Baby Gabriel

Surrogate mother McKenna West is preparing a court battle for custody of Baby Gabriel, the newborn she carried and delivered after refusing the biological parents’ demand that she abort him because of a prenatal diagnosis.

West, an Alaska nurse and single mother of two, gave birth to the boy on August 12 in the Dallas area.

The child was diagnosed at about 20 weeks with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe but treatable heart condition that requires a series of surgeries beginning in the first weeks of life. The biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California, invoked a clause in the surrogacy contract allowing abortion for an “anomaly” and asked West to kill Gabriel.

West refused.

She traveled to Texas before the birth so she would be recognized as the birth mother under state law and named the infant Gabriel.

The biological parents obtained a temporary California court order granting them custody and decision-making authority.

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A separate order bars West from any contact with the baby, who is now in their physical custody and receiving specialized medical care at a Texas facility.

West’s attorney, Lincoln Wilson, said she will challenge the parentage orders.

“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,” Wilson said. “We think that once that California judgment is removed … that basically she is the mother under Texas law.”

“We are taking that challenge up through the California courts, and we’ll take it up to the US Supreme Court if we have to,” he added.

West is now seeking public donations to cover her travel, living expenses, and ongoing legal costs after payments from the biological parents stopped following their abortion request. She claims she has not received proper payments from the California couple.

“McKenna has already sacrificed so much,” reads the bio of a GiveSendGo campaign that had raked in more than $66,000 by Friday to help West “cover travel and living expenses, and continue fighting to protect this baby’s life.”

The 28-year-old Alaskan nurse apparently needs help financing her stay in Dallas, where she fled to give birth to Los Angeles parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed’s biological son Wednesday – despite the couple asking her to terminate the pregnancy after the baby was diagnosed with a severe but treatable heart condition at around 20 weeks.

“She has lost the payments she was relying on and is now facing the possibility of being sued for all money paid to her – or on her behalf – since the beginning of her surrogacy journey,” reads the fundraiser, which was created by a friend only identified as Ellen.

“She has also relocated away from home and is taking time off work while continuing to cover expenses back home,” the page continues, noting that West was already set to run out of paid time off from her nursing job in Anchorage before she was originally due to give birth on Sept. 2.

Her lawyer, Lincoln Wilson, claimed Friday that the intended parents “haven’t given [West] anything” since asking her to terminate the pregnancy – even though a clause in their surrogacy contract allowed the couple to seek an abortion if an “anomaly” was discovered.

“They said when they demanded an abortion, ‘Hey, can we just pay you half for the next month since you’re gonna be aborting this child?’” Wilson alleged in a phone interview with The Post.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened before the birth to ensure the child would receive life-saving medical care after delivery and could not be removed from the state. Paxton’s office stated that once born alive in Texas, the child is a complete legal person whose life the state will protect regardless of the circumstances of conception or private agreements.

The biological parents’ attorney, Lee Budner, said the couple is focused on the baby’s medical care and called the involvement of Paxton and West “political theater.”