Surrogate who had baby against parents’ wishes now sued by her biological child’s father
The surrogate who travelled to Texas after refusing to terminate a pregnancy at the request of the biological parents is now apparently being sued by her ex.
McKenna West, 28, from Alaska in the US is back in the news amid her ongoing legal battle with biological parents to her surrogate child, Nasheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed.
The trio have been locked in a lawsuit after the couple say she breached their agreement, which details her responsibility to terminate the pregnancy at the wish of the parents should there be a reasonable medical 'anomaly’.
As they continue to talk about the rights (or lack of) West has toward the baby now custody has been given to the biological parents, she’s been met with another case.
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This time by the biological father of her biological child.
According to court documents which were obtained by TMZ, Robert Gross filed the complaint against West on 2 September in Alaska.
According to the outlet, he claims he is not and has never been married to West, but that they share a son named Cassius West, who was born in 2021.
Gross is seeking sole decision-making authority for their son, claiming that amid her dispute with the Californian couple, she had actually ‘fled to Texas to avoid legal troubles here’ and that this is a clear indication that she’s not stable enough to make decisions in regard to their son.
He has since asked that West has supervised visits with their son, and noted that she has taken him to Texas with her, and has not returned.
West has been in Texas after refusing to terminate her surrogacy pregnancy.
Upon having a scan at 20 weeks, it was flagged that the foetus had a rare heart defect, which did require immediate heart surgery upon birth to minimise the severity of longterm health effects.
However, West refused to terminate the pregnancy and travelled to Texas, where abortion is nearly always illegal except in very rare cases.
She then wrote her reason for fleeing in the New York Post, calling the act ‘unthinkable’.
“It is unthinkable to me to give birth to a precious, living, breathing baby boy and yet deny him the chance to survive," she wrote.
The biological parents then opened legal proceedings against West, claiming breach of contract and suing her for at least $100,000 prior to her giving birth.
Once delivered, the baby was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which occurs when the left side of the heart is underdeveloped.
“All I wanted was for the contracting couple to commit to giving this baby lifesaving treatment. But they refused. So, I made my own plans to save him," wrote West for the NYT.
She added: “My plea, my only goal, is simple: Let’s commit to giving this baby the full treatment he needs to live.”
Topics: US News
Britt Jones