The surrogate who refused to abort the baby she was carrying despite the biological parent’s wishes was shut down by the US Supreme Court on Tuesday after she filed a desperate plea to the nation’s highest court to intervene in the heated multi-state custody battle.
Supreme Court Justice Elana Kagan denied Alaskan surrogate McKenna West’s last-ditch bid to retain control over the baby’s care without detailing the legal reasoning — as is typical in emergency appeals.
West, 28, filed the request earlier this month amid the contentious, multi-state custody courtroom battle with Los Angeles couple Nasheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed.
The Supreme Court filing sought to halt a California court order that recognizes the couple as the baby’s parents — a decision upheld by a Texas judge, who previously ruled West couldn’t make decisions relating to the treatment and custody of the baby, Rumi.
“We are truly grateful that Rumi can continue receiving the treatment he needs to survive, and that he will not be stripped away from what has been described by doctors as the excellent care of his parents,” the couple’s attorney Adam Wolf said in a statement obtained by TMZ.
“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.”
Rumi was born in a Dallas hospital on Aug. 12 after West fled to Texas where abortion is illegal and she would be recognized as the child’s mother under state law.
The baby was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome at 20 weeks — a life-threatening condition that prevents normal blood flow to the organ and requires surgery almost immediately after birth to survive beyond the first week of life.
Gilkar and Ahmed agreed to pay West $60,000 to carry their child and the surrogacy contract contained a clause that allowed terminations if there was an “anomaly” during the pregnancy.
But West claimed she couldn’t, in good faith, go through with the abortion and carried the baby until he was born in August.
West, a single mom of two, is fighting for full custody or conservatorship because she believes the couple will not provide essential resources to the baby whom she calls Gabriel and they call Rumi.
The surrogate has maintained that her only goal is for the baby to receive the necessary treatment for his heart condition and even vowed to abandon her bid for custody if she could be assured the baby would receive the appropriate care, according to her lawyers.
But her attorney claims Gilkar and Ahmed have repeatedly “refused” to make that commitment.
The biological parents are suing West for at least $100,000 amid the custody dispute and even accused West of trying to snatch their baby.
“She’s making us run from doctor to doctor, state to state. With our baby — she’s trying to take him,” Gilkar tearfully told a Dallas court last month.
“He’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. He’s the love of our lives.”
With Post wires
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