Kagan declined West’s appeal; California ruling stands
Lawyers for surrogate McKenna West suggested in a Supreme Court filing that the California couple she carried a baby for could place the newborn in hospice care, according to BBC News reporting. The filing was part of West’s emergency appeal, which Justice Elena Kagan declined on Tuesday, leaving in place a California ruling granting parental rights to the couple.
The couple, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, were publicly identified through a court hearing reported by the Associated Press. At that hearing, Gilkar said the baby — whom they named Rumi — was “our child” and “the love of our lives,” according to the AP. The couple said West travelled to Texas without telling them and blocked their access to medical information.
The dispute centers on West’s refusal of the parents’ request to terminate the pregnancy after a 20-week scan revealed the fetus had a severe heart defect. According to West’s Supreme Court filing, she denied the abortion request after learning of treatment options and wanting to keep “this precious baby.”
West subsequently travelled to Texas, where nearly all abortions are illegal, and gave birth to the child there. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened in the case and won an emergency court order requiring that the boy receive medical care in the state. The child had surgery soon after birth.
The boy was born last month with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a defect in which the left side of the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC said the condition often requires multiple surgeries, which are not a cure, and that infants with the condition can have lifelong complications.
In court filings, lawyers for West argued that the biological parents should not have custody because West said she worried they would not provide necessary medical care, given their earlier request for an abortion. In the filing, West’s lawyers suggested that the California couple could place the child in hospice care.
West, who has been supported by several Republican officials, asked the court to halt the California ruling on custody. She argued that without intervention from the Supreme Court, she would no longer have access to information about the child’s medical condition.
A California court previously granted parental rights to Ahmed and Gilkar, while a Texas court issued a restraining order blocking West from seeing the baby.
Last month, an attorney for the California couple said the child was in critical condition and seemed to be “suffering from potential complications.”
The BBC said it has contacted lawyers for both parties for comment.