Baby at center of multistate surrogacy controversy born in Texas

McKenna West, a surrogate from Alaska, has given birth in Texas to the baby who’s been at the center of a multistate controversy over parental rights and abortion.

This story originally appeared in The Dallas Morning News, a Hearst publication.

West gave birth Wednesday morning in the Dallas area, attorney Lincoln Wilson told the newspaper. West’s legal team has referred to the baby as “Baby Gabriel.”

An attorney for the intended parents, Lee Budner, confirmed in a written statement that the baby was born Wednesday morning and is currently undergoing medical care.

“Our clients’ only focus at this time is ensuring that their baby receives the medical care that he vitally needs and that they, as his parents, are able to spend every precious moment they can with him,” Budner wrote.

The baby has been part of a controversy that’s made national headlines.

West was carrying the baby under a surrogacy contract that she signed with a California couple.

The surrogacy contract, according to Wilson and a recorded interview that West participated in for The Megyn Kelly Show, allowed the intended parents to choose to terminate the pregnancy in the case of fetal anomalies.

When West was about 20 weeks pregnant, the fetus she was carrying was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which is a severe and life-threatening congenital heart condition. The intended parents then decided they wanted to terminate the pregnancy.

West, however, refused to undergo an abortion. She later traveled to Texas, seeking a hospital with expertise in caring for infants with this congenital condition.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has waded into the legal case in Dallas County court. Paxton’s office announced that it obtained an emergency court order requiring two Dallas hospitals — UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas — to provide life-saving care to the baby.

The baby will require intensive treatment and surgery to survive. If he does eventually leave the hospital, Wilson said it’s not clear what will happen to him.

While Wilson acknowledged that the intended parents have said they are the biological parents of the child, the attorney added that his legal team hasn’t received a genetic test confirming that. West, according to the attorney, would consider taking the baby if the courts permit. As of right now, however, the surrogate is not allowed to see or hold the baby under a court order.

Budner, in his statement on behalf of the intended parents, described the couple unequivocally as the baby’s parents.

“Our clients will continue, as they always have, to place their baby’s health and well-being first,” Budner wrote, “following the advice of the baby’s medical team, just as any loving parent would.”

Budner wrote that it’s been devastating for the intended parents to see the baby’s health condition “transformed into political theater” by West and the Texas attorney general.

West’s legal team includes counsel from the law firm First and Fourteenth and the conservative nonprofit group Alliance Defending Freedom. Wilson said the legal team believes the pregnancy termination clause in West’s surrogacy contract, while standard, is “offensive to state and federal law.”