Relief for biological parents of baby with heart defect after surrogate’s bid for Supreme Court custody fight is tossed as couple shares first photo
A surrogate mother who refused to terminate her pregnancy after doctors discovered her unborn baby had a devastating heart defect has lost her last-ditch bid to take her custody battle to the US Supreme Court.
McKenna West had asked the nation’s highest court to intervene on in the extraordinary dispute over the five-week-old boy, whom she calls Gabriel yet his biological parents call Rumi.
But today, Justice Elena Kagan rejected West’s emergency request, leaving in place a California court order recognizing parents Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the child’s legal guardians.
‘We are grateful that Rumi can continue receiving the treatment he needs to survive, and that he will not be stripped away from his parents, who are ensuring their child receives top-notch medical care,’ Ahmed and Gilkar’s legal team told the Daily Mail.
‘Ms. West’s legal filings across three states, numerous courts of appeals, and now the U.S. Supreme Court have sought to undermine Rumi’s parents’ right to provide him with the care he needs. Those efforts have been rejected by every single court.’
The ruling occurred as the first photographs of the newborn were released – revealing the tiny boy covered in tubes and medical equipment, with a long scar running down the center of his chest following emergency heart surgery.
The images, obtained by the Daily Mail from Ahmed and Gilkar, offer a public glimpse of the baby at the center of the bitter legal battle.
Rumi was born in Dallas on August 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare and potentially fatal condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped and cannot properly circulate blood.
He underwent complex surgery shortly after his birth. His parents later told a Texas court that he had suffered serious complications and that his condition had deteriorated, at one point requiring him to be re-intubated.
The baby was born in Dallas on August 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare and potentially fatal congenital condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped
Surrogate mother McKenna West refused to terminate her pregnancy after doctors discovered her unborn baby had a serious heart defect
The decision leaves in place a California court ruling recognizing Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the child’s legal parents
The complex legal saga began during West’s pregnancy.
Following failed IVF treatments, the parents pursued surrogacy and contracted West, a cardiac nurse in Anchorage, Alaska, in August 2025. Their agreement featured a clause permitting abortion in the event of a fetal abnormality.
West later said she was asked to terminate the pregnancy after the baby’s heart condition was discovered during an ultrasound at around 20 weeks.
Instead, West refused and traveled to Texas to give birth, amid a wider dispute over what the surrogacy agreement permitted the intended parents to demand.
West’s lawyers have argued that she feared the couple would refuse potentially lifesaving treatment for the child. She has sought custody or conservatorship and has said she wants to ensure the baby receives continued medical care.
Ahmed and Gilkar have strongly disputed that characterization.
The couple has said they did request that West terminate the pregnancy after receiving the diagnosis, but have denied that they intended to withhold lifesaving treatment from their son.
Gilkar told a judge in Dallas last month that she and her husband were dedicated to getting the son they named Rumi the help he requires – and that the ‘unstable’ West is making an already tragic situation more fraught.
It looked unlikely that the Supreme Court would grant the appeal as the justices do not usually get involved in family disputes. Kagan, who handles emergency applications arising from California, rejected West’s request without issuing a detailed explanation.
Their attorney has argued that West’s legal campaign could create confusion over who has authority to make crucial medical decisions while the baby is undergoing treatment.
‘She’s making us run from doctor to doctor, state to state with our baby. She’s trying to take him,’ Gilkar previously testified.
In court filings, the couple also accused West of violating their surrogacy agreement and maintained that they, rather than the surrogate, are the child’s parents.
The legal fight intensified just before the birth when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened and obtained a court order requiring the newborn to receive lifesaving medical treatment.
West’s supporters have rallied around her refusal to end the pregnancy, turning the case into a national contention over abortion, surrogacy and parental rights.
The case has drawn support from anti-abortion organizations and Republican officials, while also exposing the complicated legal questions that arise when surrogacy contracts cross state lines.
There is no comprehensive federal law governing surrogacy, leaving states with different approaches to parental rights and surrogacy agreements.
But West’s attempts to secure custody have repeatedly been rejected.
West’s case has drawn support from anti-abortion organizations and Republican officials, while also exposing the complicated legal questions that arise when surrogacy contracts cross state lines. For the moment, the legal parents remain Ahmed and Gilkar, and the Texas Supreme Court’s decision means they can move their son to California for treatment
A Texas judge ruled on September 2 against West’s attempt to obtain sole conservatorship and dismissed her from the case, while a California court recognized them as his legal parents.
On September 18, the Texas Supreme Court also cleared the way for the baby to leave Texas and be taken to Los Angeles for treatment, saying that preserving the medically fragile child’s life was the paramount concern.
West then took her fight to the US Supreme Court, asking Justice Kagan to block the California judgment and preserve her ability to advocate for the baby. Now the US Supreme Court has declined to intervene.
The decision does not resolve every underlying dispute between West and the couple, but it leaves the existing custody arrangement intact and the newborn will stay with Ahmed and Gilkar.
