The saga of the baby whose surrogate mother saved him from an abortion demanded by his biological parents continues with both good news and bad news. The good news is that the baby received the first operation for his heart condition. The bad news is that his parents are suing the surrogate for more than $100,000.
Cardiac Addressed
The baby — named Gabriel by surrogate mom McKenna West of Alaska and Rumi by biological parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California — was discovered in April to have hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a congenital heart defect, at 20 weeks’ gestation. The condition can be treated via a series of surgeries, though, as with any other treatment, there’s no guarantee of complete success. NBC News, which filed its story on the baby’s surgery under “abortion rights,” reported:
HLHS often requires lifelong care, and many babies born with it develop disabilities or do not survive. About 925 babies in the U.S. are born with the condition every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Monday, the baby underwent the first of three surgeries he will need to correct his condition, Lee Budner, attorney for Gilkar and Ahmed, said in a statement to NBC.
“Rumi is now recuperating under the loving care of his parents and his heroic team of doctors, nurses, and medical staff,” he said.
Furthermore, “This is the last update on Rumi’s health that his family intends to share. His condition remains critical and complex, and his family seeks privacy in caring for their son on his long road to recovery.”
West, too, celebrated this first step on the baby’s journey to health, saying in a statement to LifeNews.com:
It was great to hear that he received the first of the three necessary surgeries yesterday. What matters most now is making sure he gets the life-saving care he will need in the coming months, care that the other side is currently fighting in court for their ability to withhold.
Abortive Approach
West’s reference to the parents’ desire to withhold care from the child stems from their decision to invoke a clause in their surrogacy contract with West stating that they could demand “termination of the pregnancy” in the event of a “fetal abnormality.” HLHS, in their opinion, presented too much of a threat to the baby’s quality of life to take a chance on his coming into the world.
At first, West was cooperative. Since no Alaskan doctors would perform the abortion, Gilkar and Ahmed arranged for one in Seattle that ultimately would have occurred when the baby was 24 weeks along.
By that time, however, his surrogate mother was having second thoughts. Displeased, Gilkar and Ahmed stopped sending her contractually obligated payments and allegedly demanded that she return the $60,000 they had already paid her along with additional damages. According to LifeNews.com, West claims they “repeatedly pressured her to abort.” Later, they tried to force her to give birth in California with a medical team they selected. She said she would have agreed to that if they had committed in writing to ensuring that the baby would receive the series of surgeries for HLHS, but they refused.
After an Alaska court denied a motion to compel the California birth, West flew to Texas to be near a hospital that could perform the surgeries. Texas Attorney General and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton then obtained a court order guaranteeing the baby would receive the necessary treatment.
West gave birth last Wednesday. The baby was immediately whisked away from her under a separate court order prohibiting her from having any contact with him. At that time, Gilkar and Ahmed assumed custody of him.
Birthday Suits
A week later, TMZ reported that Gilkar and Ahmed had filed a lawsuit “weeks before” the baby was born, “asking a judge to award them more than $100K in damages from [West] for breaching the deal … plus unspecified damages for the ‘malicious, outrageous conduct’ they believe she committed.”
The couple disputes West’s allegations that they threatened her in an attempt to compel her to abort their child. They further contend that West’s actions have caused them “emotional distress,” wrote TMZ. According to NBC, they also deny that they ever intended to refuse lifesaving care for their baby once he was born — but, of course, they were hoping it would never come to that.
The parents stated “in a court filing” that “they respected that West … refused to go through with an abortion,” penned NBC.
West, for her part, is challenging a California court’s temporary order granting Gilkar and Ahmed custody of the baby. Her attorney, Lincoln Wilson, told the New York Post that West “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.”
“We think that once that California judgment is removed … that basically she is the mother under Texas law,” Wilson said.
“We are taking that challenge up through the California courts,” he added, “and we’ll take it up to the U.S. Supreme Court if we have to.”
Budner responded that West’s claims are “baseless” and “in violation of multiple court orders out of both Alaska and California.”
“We look forward to quickly defeating those claims as Rumi’s parents continue to focus on his health and safety above all else,” he said.
