*The baby at the center of an extraordinary Texas surrogacy battle is critically ill following heart surgery as his biological parents and the woman who carried him faced each other in court over who should have parental rights.
Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, the California couple who call their newborn son Rumi, told a Dallas court that his condition had worsened following surgery for hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a life-threatening congenital heart defect.
Court filings said the child was experiencing potential complications and had to be reintubated. Gilkar testified that since surgery, her son has struggled to breathe, choked on tubes and required a blood transfusion, the Texas Tribune reported.
“He’s our child,” Gilkar said through tears. “He’s the love of our lives. He’s suffering a lot.”
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Parents Defend Their Right to Their Son
The emotional hearing marked a major escalation in the case EURweb previously reported, which began after surrogate McKenna West refused the couple’s request to terminate the pregnancy following the baby’s prenatal diagnosis.
West later traveled from Alaska to Texas and sought authority over the child’s medical care. The couple denies allegations that they intended to withhold necessary treatment after birth.
That dispute now looks different in one crucial respect: Gilkar and Ahmed have authorized their son’s heart surgery, even as West continues challenging their parental authority.
West’s attorneys argue that the couple’s earlier decision to seek an abortion raises questions about whether they can be trusted to make medical decisions for the newborn. Gilkar pushed back against that premise in court.
West, however, added an important qualification to her position. She testified that if the court determines Gilkar and Ahmed are committed to obtaining the surgeries their son needs, she would drop her custody claims.
Restraining Order Against Surrogate Remains
A California court previously recognized Gilkar and Ahmed as the child’s parents. After the birth, they obtained a Texas restraining order preventing West from seeing or holding the baby or making medical decisions for him.
Dallas County District Judge Ashley Wysocki has now extended that order for another 14 days while considering the dispute, KERA reported. No final custody or conservatorship ruling was issued at Tuesday’s hearing.
The case has drawn anti-abortion activists and Republican officials, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, into a dispute that began over abortion but has evolved into something different: whether a surrogate can obtain parental authority over a biological child whose intended parents previously sought to terminate the pregnancy.
For now, that legal question remains unresolved while the most immediate concern is no longer theoretical. The newborn is hospitalized in critical condition, his parents are overseeing his medical treatment, and the court must decide whether West has any right to intervene.
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