TEXAS — Three states, three people calling themselves parents to one baby boy who entered the world in Texas on Wednesday.
A California couple is in a legal battle with their surrogate from Alaska who fled to Texas to give birth. The surrogate is alleging the biological parents asked her to terminate the pregnancy after the fetus was diagnosed with a heart condition. The case involving parental rights and competing state laws is raising new questions for legal scholars, and has Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervening and the Trump administration weighing in.
A baby born just last week in Dallas with a heart condition has become the center of a national debate. It’s one that has Texas’ strict reproductive and abortion laws being tested by multiple would-be parents wanting control of the infant’s future. Now, the federal government is stepping in.
“The heart of this case has been who gets to make medical decisions,” said Rachel Rebouche, a professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin.
Decisions around the care of the baby boy. It’s a complicated case between his intended parents, their surrogate and the state of Texas.
“It’s a case that concerns a surrogate in Alaska who’s moved to Texas, parents in California, and so there are three states involved,” Rebouche said. “Now, that’s not uncommon in surrogacy arrangements, but in this one, there’s deep conflict between the parties, which is more rare.”
That conflict began after the surrogate, McKenna West, completed an anatomy scan at 20 weeks pregnant. At that point, the baby’s health condition was discovered and a dispute over terminating the pregnancy ensued.
“In order for it to be done, I would have to be a willing participant,” West said in an interview with anti-abortion platform, Live Action. “I would be the one signing the consent papers at the abortion clinic and I didn’t think that I could live with myself doing that.”
She moved to Texas, where reproductive laws are among the country’s most strict, to give birth to the baby and ensure he gets the necessary treatment. Paxton stepped in on Tuesday.
“It is not typical that an attorney general would intervene in a surrogacy dispute between intended parents and a gestational carrier,” Rebouche said.
Paxton secured an emergency court order for UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas to provide life-saving care for the baby. In a statement he said in part, “The court has made the right decision in immediately acting to protect baby Gabriel’s life and ensure he receives the care he deserves. My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel’s well-being.”
“It’s not clear from what we know that there was a danger that the intended parents were on the precipice of denying life-sustaining treatment for the child once born, so what’s unusual in some ways is for the state, through the attorney general, to intervene before there is a problem,” Rebouche said.
Even the federal government is stepping in. The Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter to both Dallas medical centers, outlining laws regarding treating newborns with disabilities. It reads in part: “… any such review should assess the infant’s medical circumstances and may not rest on judgments about the value or burden of life with a disability, or on the effect of the infant’s condition on other persons.”
According to the Texas Tribune, the biological parents are with the baby, and their attorney says he is receiving medical care. A temporary restraining order is in place against West.
“She’s not allowed to make decisions for the baby,” Rebouche said. “She doesn’t get to exercise any of the rights that a parent would. The intended parents do, and that, I think, is where we are now.”
A hearing for this case is set to take place on Aug. 25 in a Texas state court.