24 Sep Surrogacy case continues in Dallas court, Supreme Court, with redactions and sealed files

The parents of the baby at the center of a surrogacy controversy have responded to the surrogate’s request for U.S. Supreme Court intervention, with a filing that urges the court to deny the surrogate’s request.

Last week, surrogate McKenna West asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the case and give her access to the baby she birthed in Dallas last month. West’s attorneys are pushing for the surrogate to have decision-making authority over the baby. In the request, West’s attorney wrote that the surrogate “has sought relief in every court below and been denied.”

The baby boy, who was born with a severe heart condition, has been under the care of his biological parents.

One of the couple’s attorneys, Lee Budner, said in a statement that intervention from the Supreme Court would only cause confusion.

“While McKenna West has been conducting a publicity tour,” Budner wrote, “Rumi’s parents have been quietly caring for their child and following the recommendations of Rumi’s medical team.”

The parents’ court filing had lengthy redactions, so the entire filing was not publicly accessible. Similarly, the outcome of a court hearing in the Dallas portion of the case this week has been shielded from public view. That hearing was to determine whether the baby’s parents can take him out of Texas.

In a Dallas County court, Judge Ashley Wysocki sealed the hearing at the request of the court-appointed guardian and to keep the baby’s health information private. The judge had also previously sealed the documents in the case.

The two court movements are the latest chapters in a complex case that spans three states and has captured national attention in recent weeks.

The background

It started when a California couple signed an agreement with West, a surrogate from Alaska surrogate. When West was about 20 weeks pregnant with the couple’s biological child, the fetus was diagnosed with a severe congenital heart condition.

The couple, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, requested the surrogate terminate the pregnancy. The surrogacy agreement, which The Dallas Morning News obtained a copy of, permitted the parents to make that decision in the event of a fetal anomaly.

West, however, refused to undergo an abortion.

Several months later, in July, she traveled to Texas. In August, she gave birth at a Dallas hospital.

West has been legally barred from seeing the baby since his birth. He has instead been under the care of Gilkar and Ahmed, who chose to have him undergo an intensive open heart surgery a few days after his birth.

As of late last week, the baby remained in critical condition at a Dallas hospital. In order to survive the heart condition, which is called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the baby will need two additional open heart surgeries in early childhood.

The legal portion of the case involves numerous courts across the country. In addition to the Dallas court case, there has also been litigation in California and in Alaska. Both the Alaska and Texas courts have opted to align with a prior California ruling that determined Gilkar and Ahmed are the baby’s legal parents. In early September, West was dismissed from the Texas court.

West and her attorneys, meanwhile, have taken that decision up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, the surrogate’s attorneys asked the nation’s highest court to intervene in the case and give West access to the baby and decision-making authority over him.

It’s not clear when the court may issue a decision on West’s request for intervention.

Source: Dallas News September 18, 2026