(LifeSiteNews) — After an emergency intervention by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a baby boy was safely born on August 12 after a wild journey that included a flight from Alaska to Texas after the couple who had commissioned him attempted to force his surrogate mother into an abortion.

In February 2025, McKenna West – a nurse and Alaskan single mother of two – was approved by Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists, and shortly thereafter she signed a “gestational surrogacy agreement” with a couple from California, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed. The contract included a clause that permitted the couple to demand an abortion in the case of a “fetal anomaly,” a common practice in the surrogacy industry.

In December 2025, West became pregnant; in April, ultrasounds revealed that the child, whom West called Baby Gabriel, had hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a serious but treatable congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart cannot properly pump blood. HLHS typically requires multiple surgeries almost immediately after birth.

Upon discovering the heart defect, Gilkar and Ahmed demanded that West abort the baby and invoked the termination clause in the surrogacy contract, cloaking their demand in faux concern about Baby Gabriel’s quality of life. No physicians in Alaska were willing to perpetrate a late-term abortion at that stage (22 weeks). The couple then scheduled an abortion in Seattle for late April (when Baby Gabriel was 23 weeks), which was delayed to a 24-week abortion in May.

West decided she could not go through with it. “Podcaster Ellen Fisher and Live Action founder and president Lila Rose helped West fly to Texas, where she could deliver at a hospital with doctors who would work to save Gabriel’s life,” Live Action News reported. “Yet because she refused to have an abortion, A.B. and C.D. stopped sending West money, demanded she return the money they had already paid her, and pay for additional damages.” 

The couple also sued to force West to deliver the baby in California with a medical team they selected; West stated that she would be more than willing as long as they committed to providing Gabriel with the medical care he needed to save his life. An Alaska Superior Court denied the motion to force West to relocate to California, and West filed for custody of Gabriel – and fled to Texas to keep him safe.

“I want to fight for him because he deserves that chance,” she told Live Action. “There’s no guarantee; there’s not a guarantee with anything. But he deserves a chance of living life outside of my womb. I just really pray he gets that opportunity. I want to get them to commit to the surgery or get parental rights so I can get him surgery. My goal is to get him surgery.”

On August 11, Texas AG Ken Paxton intervened, issuing an emergency order to protect Gabriel’s life:

I secured an emergency court order ensuring that baby Gabriel receives life-saving care in Texas. pic.twitter.com/Yv84BFoFi7

— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 12, 2026

According to a press release from the attorney general’s office:

Attorney General Paxton took action in court to ensure the safety of baby Gabriel. In addition, he notified UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas of their legal obligations to provide the baby with life-saving care. Baby Gabriel was diagnosed in utero with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which requires surgical intervention shortly after birth. While the surrogate mother of baby Gabriel has traveled to Texas for protection and care for Gabriel, the intended parents have refused to agree that they will consent to the life-saving surgery for Gabriel after he is born. Attorney General Paxton has now secured a legal victory that will ensure baby Gabriel’s life is protected and that care is provided.

Under the court order, life-saving medical care will be provided upon baby Gabriel’s birth and will not be delayed. The order prevents anyone from withholding or obstructing necessary treatment or removing, discharging, or transferring the child while the court considers the case. The hospital and treating physicians must immediately notify the court and all involved parties of the child’s birth, initial medical assessment, any refusal of consent to medically indicated treatment, and any request to discharge, transfer, or transport the child. If medically indicated treatment is refused, the court will hold an emergency hearing to determine whether intervention is warranted under Texas and federal law and to protect the child’s life. The court notes that nothing in this order limits the right of the surrogate mother to make decisions to safeguard her own health or the health of the pregnancy.

A day later, on August 12, Baby Gabriel was born around three weeks early in the Dallas area and moved to NICU for stabilizing care in preparation for heart surgery. According to reports, he was taken away from West – the woman who not only carried him, but saved his life – immediately, and the parents who demanded that he be aborted were at the hospital.

“McKenna gave birth after courageously refusing the contracting parents’ demand that she abort him because of his serious but treatable heart condition,” stated Lila Rose. “Heartbreakingly, a temporary restraining order issued yesterday prevented McKenna from seeing or holding the baby she carried and fought to protect.”

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