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US Supreme Court denies surrogate's bid to block California parentage ruling

The brief order leaves the California parentage ruling in place, preserving medical authority for the parents as the 5-week-old remains hospitalized.

  • On Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court rejected Alaskan surrogate McKenna West's attempt to keep the medically fragile 1-month-old she delivered, clearing the way for biological parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed to transfer Rumi to a Los Angeles hospital.
  • After learning at about 20 weeks that the fetus had a severe heart defect, Gilkar and Ahmed asked West to terminate the pregnancy, but West refused and moved to Texas, later seeking sole conservatorship to make medical decisions instead of the parents.
  • Guardian ad litem Susan Duesler testified that doctors recommend the child's remaining surgeries be performed in Los Angeles, warning that delaying transfer would create "much more complicated treatment" for the baby after his mid-August heart surgery.
  • Last week, West asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strip the parents' right to control Rumi's medical care while pursuing her custody request in Texas courts, but attorneys for Gilkar and Ahmed argue the move could jeopardize treatment by creating confusion over medical decision-making authority.
  • The case illustrates a fundamental tension in surrogacy law between a woman's bodily autonomy during pregnancy and the legal rights of biological parents after birth, raising difficult questions about whether surrogacy contracts governing those decisions should be enforceable.
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US Supreme Court Hands Black Surrogate Loss In Custody Fight

In response to a last-ditch effort, SCOTUS rejected McKenna West's effort to keep the baby she carried, despite the parents wanting to terminate.

·New York, United States
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The U.S. Supreme Court pulls itself out of the case of a woman from Alaska who refused to stop her pregnancy after the diagnosis of a serious cardiac malformation. The newborn, born in Texas, is hospitalized, while fighting a battle over who has the right to decide his life

·Italy
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Slate broke the news in United States on Thursday, September 17, 2026.
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