A surrogate who refused to abort a baby diagnosed with a heart defect has fled to Texas.
McKenna West, a nurse from Alaska, is locked in a high-profile legal battle with the biological parents over their unborn baby’s future.
Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, intervened on Tuesday, securing an emergency order to ensure the unborn child stays in his anti-abortion state.
Mr Paxton’s office said the move was necessary because the biological parents had “refused to agree that they will consent to the life-saving surgery” for the baby, whom the surrogate has called Gabriel.
“My office utilised every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel’s wellbeing,” Mr Paxton said in a statement.
During Ms West’s 20-week ultrasound in April, doctors had diagnosed the foetus with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare and severe congenital condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped.
Newborns with HLHS can survive if they receive an operation shortly after birth, however the intended parents allegedly requested that Ms West terminate the pregnancy because they were concerned about the baby’s future quality of life.
Ms West refused and fled to Texas, where most abortions are illegal, intending to give birth in a hospital that specialises in paediatric cardiac cases. She has offered to take full responsibility for the baby, due on Sept 2.
The case has underscored the complex intersection of parental rights, abortion laws and surrogacy contracts in a country where surrogacy continues to be a booming, billion-dollar industry.
Ms West, a single mother-of-two, had signed up to become a surrogate in 2025 through Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists, a company which pays women up to $70,000 (£50,000), according to its website.
McKenna West had signed up to a service that organised paid surrogacy – Handout
She was paired with a couple she described as “a perfect match” and later became pregnant, according to Live Action, an anti-abortion charity.
Ms West is now being sued by the baby’s biological parents who had wanted her to have the termination in California.
She had initially agreed to travel to California, but on the condition that the parents commit to the heart surgery.
“I want to fight for him because he deserves that chance,” Ms West told Live Action two weeks before she fled to Texas.
“There’s no guarantee. There’s not a guarantee with anything. But he deserves a chance at living life outside of my womb. My goal is to get him surgery.”
Both sides are due at a hearing in Dallas on Aug 25, at which the court will decide whether further action is necessary.
Ms West has sought legal protection in Texas because under the state’s law anyone who gives birth there is recognised as the legal mother of that child.
A judge could overrule that recognition, however, if they find that because of the surrogacy contract the biological parents have the lawful right to make decisions about the baby’s medical care.
But the attorney general has argued that he should be able to override a parent’s medical decision if his office believes intervention is necessary to protect the child’s welfare.
Mr Paxton wrote to Texan doctors this week to remind them of their “independent legal duty to provide the child treatment regardless of how the parentage dispute is ultimately resolved”.
“Baby Gabriel deserves a chance at life, and I will not allow anyone to unlawfully deny him medically necessary care,” he said.
Roughly 70 to 75 per cent of newborns diagnosed with HLHS survive their first year following an operation or heart transplant. For those that reach the age of one, the long-term survival rate jumps to about 90 per cent into adolescence, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
In the Republican-held state of Texas, almost all abortions were prohibited after 2022. There are exceptions for when the life of the patient is at risk, but it does not grant exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
Ms West and the biological parents were contacted for comment.
