Updated

Updated · Fox News · Aug 20

Biological Parents Seek $100,000 From Surrogate After She Refused Abortion for Baby With Heart Defect

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Aug 20

Biological Parents Seek $100,000 From Surrogate After She Refused Abortion for Baby With Heart Defect

Q: When a surrogacy contract demands abortion for a fetal defect, who ultimately holds the power over the unborn child's life?

In practice, before birth the surrogate holds the final physical power because no contract can force a woman to undergo an abortion against her will. Even if a surrogacy agreement contains a termination clause, enforcement is typically limited to money damages or contract claims, not compelled medical treatment. That is the core reality exposed by the Texas case. The intended parents say the contract required termination after a serious fetal diagnosis and are now seeking damages for breach. But the surrogate was still the person who had to consent to any abortion procedure, and she refused. Legal experts on surrogacy generally note that intended parents may have strong contractual and parentage rights, yet they do not gain the power to compel an abortion. Once the child is born alive, the legal balance changes. Decision-making usually shifts to whoever the court recognizes as the child’s legal parents, subject to state intervention if lifesaving care is at stake. In this dispute, Texas courts and state officials treated the baby as a legal person entitled to medically necessary treatment, and the intended parents ultimately authorized heart surgery. So the answer is split by timing: during pregnancy, the surrogate controls whether an abortion happens because bodily autonomy governs; after birth, courts and parentage orders determine who speaks for the child, and the state can step in to protect the newborn’s life and access to necessary care.

2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 20

A countersuit filed before the Aug. 12 birth seeks more than $100,000 from surrogate McKenna West, with Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed alleging she breached their surrogacy contract and caused emotional distress.
The dispute began after doctors diagnosed the fetus at about 20 weeks with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and the couple says West initially agreed to terminate before changing her mind and going to Texas to deliver.
West denies wrongdoing and is asking the court to dismiss the claims, while still pursuing parental rights even after the biological parents won key parentage rulings in Alaska and California.
The baby underwent a Norwood procedure on Monday and remains in critical, complex condition; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and federal health officials had already intervened to ensure medically necessary treatment was not delayed.
A Dallas County hearing is set for Aug. 25, extending a multistate fight over custody, contract terms and medical decisions surrounding the child.