Texas Court Allows Sick Newborn in Surrogacy Fight to Move to Los Angeles
The Texas Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, September 17, 2026, that a month-old baby born to surrogate McKenna West can be moved from Texas to Los Angeles for further medical care. The Guardian
The order answers the transfer question for now in a dispute between West and the baby's biological parents, Los Angeles residents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed. A California court had recognized Gilkar and Ahmed's custody rights weeks earlier. A Texas court upheld that California ruling on Sept. 2, 2026.
Doctors said timing was urgent. The baby, named Rumi by his biological parents, was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition where the left side of the heart is underdeveloped so blood cannot flow normally and major surgery is required. His Texas doctor described the window for an ICU-to-ICU transfer, a direct move from intensive care in one hospital to intensive care in another, as short and "ripe now." The Texas Supreme Court wrote that "Sustaining the life of the medically fragile child is the paramount concern in this time-sensitive matter." Texas Supreme Court
West had tried to block Gilkar and Ahmed from taking the child from Texas to a hospital in Los Angeles. West, a nurse based in Anchorage, Alaska, lives in Alaska and traveled to Texas to give birth. The heart defect was found while Rumi was a fetus, after which Gilkar and Ahmed asked West to terminate the pregnancy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton later intervened to ensure the baby would receive medical care after birth.
The case has passed through three jurisdictions, or three separate legal systems. A Texas judge dismissed West's custody claims, after which West filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In that filing, West asked the justices to pause the California court order about the child's genetic parents. Houston Public Media
Claims about parentage and medical decisions are still disputed. West's lawyers wrote that West would normally be considered the baby's mother under Texas law because she gave birth. Gilkar and Ahmed argue in court documents that West broke a surrogacy contract, the agreement to carry the child for them. West is currently barred from any contact with the baby. CNN
The filings also differ on future care and identity. West told the U.S. Supreme Court that Gilkar and Ahmed would place the baby in end-of-life hospice care, or comfort care, rather than continue treatment. Attorneys for Gilkar and Ahmed responded that there is "no truth whatsoever" to the hospice claim. West calls the infant Gabriel, while Gilkar and Ahmed call him Rumi.
The broader context here is a collision between states rather than a single custody ruling. California decided genetic parentage, Texas controlled birth jurisdiction and enforcement, and federal emergency review was requested within weeks of birth. The sequence shows how fast a surrogacy agreement across state lines can create parallel orders, with hospital transfer and custody fought at the same time. The near-term issue is whether the baby stays stable through transfer. The longer issues are which court's parentage finding controls, what remedy remains for alleged breach of contract, and whether emergency appeals can handle time-sensitive newborn care disputes.
