Texas judge: Alaskan surrogate does not have custody over child she birthed in Dallas

By Terri Langford, The Texas Tribune
September 10, 2026

A Texas judge has ruled against an Alaskan surrogate in her bid to obtain custody over a medically fragile baby she birthed in Dallas.

According to a Wednesday filing, attorneys for the surrogate McKenna West are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after Texas’ unfavorable decision.

“A stay is needed to preserve the status quo and ensure M.W. (McKenna West) can advocate for her rights and remain informed about Baby G. during this critical time in his young life,” the filing stated.

The high-profile, multi-state dispute landed in Dallas last month after West flew to Texas, which bans abortion, to seek sole conservatorship over the child. She said she wanted custody so she could make medical decisions for the child instead of the biological parents Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar. She also accused Ahmed and Gilkar, who are from California, of pressuring her into getting an abortion because the fetus has a condition where the left side of his heart is severely underdeveloped.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened and state District Judge Ashley Wysocki, a recent Gov. Greg Abbott appointee, ordered two Dallas hospitals to provide care and that the baby remain in Texas until a final decision could be made about West’s conservatorship case.

After West gave birth on Aug. 12, Ahmed and Gilkar, who named the child Rumi, obtained a restraining order barring her from seeing or holding the child. At a subsequent Dallas court hearing, they did not deny they at one time considered abortion after learning the child was diagnosed with an underdeveloped heart, preventing normal blood flow. But, they said they eventually decided the pregnancy should proceed.

They informed Wysocki that their dispute with West escalated after they tried to get West to come to California to meet with medical experts to devise a plan for Rumi’s medical care.

Wysocki’s decision last week is not publicly available because the entire case has been sealed, a clerk for the judge informed The Texas Tribune. Neither the legal team for West nor the one representing the parents immediately returned emailed requests for comment.

However, within West’s appeal on Wednesday are details that the Dallas court eventually ruled against her on Sept. 2 in her fight for sole conservatorship over the baby she calls Gabriel. The judge — apparently deferring to a decision by the California courts that upheld Gilkar and Ahmed’s parental rights over Rumi — dismissed West as a party.

“That irreparable harm from Texas’s enforcement of the California judgment matters immensely because Baby G. is in the midst of a course of several life-saving surgeries needed to treat his condition,” West’s recent filing states.

West’s attorneys contend that because of that dismissal, “future care for Baby G. is uncertain and unknowable.” One surgery has been performed on the child but Rumi’s parents have said through their lawyers that no other information about the child’s condition will be released.

West’s appeal also indicates that the couple have sued her for at least $100,000 in damages.

West’s filing also revealed that Rumi may be transferred to California and placed in hospice care. “Indeed, the child could be removed from the Texas hospital and taken to California for hospice—despite his treatable condition—around September 17, if not sooner,” her filing states.

Gilkar, Rumi’s mother, told the Dallas court in August that the couple sought out surrogacy after she underwent eight unsuccessful rounds of in vitro fertilization and a hysterectomy.

“He’s our child,” Gilkar said last month, according to The Associated Press. Gilkar told the court that the baby had no blood flow to the left side of his heart. Since surgery, she said, he has gasped for air, choked on tubes and needed a blood transfusion.

“He’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen,” Gilkar told the Dallas court. “He’s the love of our lives. He’s suffering a lot.”

Surrogacy is not regulated on a federal level and the case has drawn the attention of Texas lawmakers who are likely to move to restrict surrogacy next year during the regular legislative session.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.