Surrogate and biological parents battle over custody of newborn with heart defect

A legal and ethical battle over a newborn with a serious heart defect has erupted between his biological parents and the surrogate who carried him, placing the infant at the center of a cross-country dispute. The baby, born on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, in a Dallas hospital, is now in the physical custody of his biological parents, according to their attorney, while the surrogate continues to fight for parental rights.

The conflict began after the unborn child was diagnosed at 20 weeks with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare and life-threatening birth defect in which the left side of the heart does not fully develop. The biological parents, identified as Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of Los Angeles, requested that the pregnancy be terminated, citing the severity of the condition. Their surrogacy contract with McKenna West, an Alaska resident, included a clause allowing for termination in the case of a fetal anomaly.

West refused the request and, at 35 weeks pregnant, traveled to Texas to give birth, a state where she believed she would be recognized as the legal mother. "I felt like, when the diagnosis was made and the decision to end his life was made, that it was...