The newborn baby boy, named Gabriel, was born with a heart defect last week after mother McKenna West said she fled to Texas over the objections of the child’s intended parents.
The parents, who live in California, reportedly demanded West abort the child after learning he would be born with HLHS, hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Even though the surrogacy contract allows for an abortion in the case of a "fetal abnormality," an attorney representing the parents denies the couple demanded the child be aborted, according to a Texas Tribune story.
TMZ, which obtained a copy of of the surrogacy contact, reported West saw a psychologist after she was ordered to terminate the pregnancy in May, but she refused to do so because of the trauma involved.
The parents have also said the baby is not named Gabriel and West no longer has custody, the attorney also told the news media.
West, who lives in Alaska, fled to pro-life Texas to give birth, and now the child is awaiting his first heart surgery at Children’s Medical Center, located in Dallas.
A custody hearing, scheduled for August 25, is also looming in a Dallas family court after the judge ruled that West doesn’t have the legal right to make medical decisions for Gabriel. The same judge also ordered the child to remain in Texas and to undergo any life-saving medical treatments.
Joy Stockbauer, a policy analyst at Family Research Council, has been following news of the mother’s sudden trip to Texas and the newborn child.
“I think it’s a really beautiful representation of what that relationship between a mother and child should look like,” Stockbauer, who is herself a mother, told the “Washington Watch” program.
Stockbauer also believes the surrogate mother’s story that the couple demanded an abortion after learning of the heart defect.
“I think it's just such a remarkable story because of how the surrogate just really put these parents to shame,” Stockbauer said, “and really just demonstrated the way that a parent should behave when their child is under threat.”
In a separate “Washington Watch” interview, pro-life advocate Dr. David Prentiss said the fault lies with the surrogacy business itself, which he calls a rent-a-womb business.
“It simply puts the child in the position of being a product,” he argued. “Essentially, you're commercializing life here.”
Pointing to the surrogacy contract, which has now been publicized by the news media, Dr. Prentiss said it does allow for an abortion at the wishes of the parents.
“You look at what this contract said that if there was any sort of anomaly – and it left it very vague – that that the parents, those who were purchasing this young individual, had the right to demand an abortion,” he pointed out.
