Surrogate Refused Abortion, Sparking Custody Fight Over Boy With Heart Condition

Nausheen Gilkar struggled to hold back tears in a Dallas courtroom as she described the boy as her and Omar Ahmed’s child. Across the courtroom, surrogate McKenna West also became emotional while explaining why she could not go through with an abortion, despite the couple’s wishes.

The conflict began after the fetus was diagnosed at 20 weeks with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped and requires several operations. Gilkar and Ahmed wanted to end the pregnancy under an agreement that required West to do so if doctors found a fetal abnormality.

West said she began researching possible treatments after learning of the diagnosis. She testified that she then faced increasing pressure to have an abortion and received a letter from the couple’s lawyer threatening “six-figure fines” and legal action if she did not comply. She scheduled an abortion at 23 weeks and later made another appointment, but never underwent the procedure.

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He is our child. She is unstable. She is trying to take him away from us.

The couple disputes West’s account. Gilkar and Ahmed say she cut off contact and withheld their son’s medical records. A California court ruled in June that they are the child’s legal parents. West later traveled to Texas to give birth, with the journey funded by Live Action, an anti-abortion group she had contacted.

The case drew wider attention in Texas, which has some of the strictest abortion laws in the United States, after Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton became involved. West had already given birth to the seriously ill boy several weeks before the testimony.

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I knew that this child, despite the diagnosis, had a great chance of surviving and living a long and meaningful life.