Surrogate mother appeals custody dispute to US Supreme Court

On Wednesday, 28-year-old McKenna West from Alaska submitted an application to the United States Supreme Court.

She requested that a California judgment be stayed. The ruling says the couple Nausheen Gilkar, 43, and Omar Ahmed, 45, will be given custody of the boy she carried as a surrogate mother.

On August 25, the parties met in a Texas courtroom.

The boy, who was born on August 12, suffers from a serious heart defect where the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. When the heart defect was discovered via an ultrasound at 20 weeks, Gilkar and Ahmed from Los Angeles wanted West to have an abortion.

However, despite a clause in the surrogacy contract, West refused to carry out the abortion. She suggested instead that she could take care of the child and pay for his care.

But in June, a California court ruled that Gilkar and Ahmed are the boy's legal parents.

Before the birth, West traveled to Texas - with the support of the anti-abortion group Live Action - to give birth to the boy there.

In a Texas courtroom in late August, McKenna West argued for her right to the child, expressing concern that the couple would not provide the boy with vital care.

- I knew that this child, despite the diagnosis, had a great chance to survive and to live a long and meaningful life, she said in court, reports CNN.

- He is our child. She is unstable. She is trying to take him away from us, countered Nausheen Gilkar.

After the parties met, the Texas judge ruled that the California court decision should stand. Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed are thus to be considered the boy's legal parents.

In her application to the Supreme Court to stop the decision, McKenna West now states that she must be given the opportunity to act on the boy's behalf and receive information about his medical condition.

She writes that she is worried that the child will be moved to California and possibly receive end-of-life care. West also claims that the matter should be decided in Alaska, where she lives, and not in California.

It is unclear whether the Supreme Court will intervene in the case.

When the boy was five days old, a first heart operation was performed. After the surgery, his condition deteriorated, according to court documents.

The Gilkar and Ahmed couple have said they will not provide any further public updates on the boy's health.