Alaskan surrogate asks U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in Texas custody battle over baby with heart defect

An emergency application filed in the Supreme Court of the United States reveals that surrogate McKenna West is seeking an immediate stay and review of a California court judgment that denied her custody of a newborn with a severe heart defect.

Surrogate appeals to high court

The backstory:

The legal battle stems from a surrogacy agreement between McKenna West, an Alaska resident, and a California couple referred to as the commissioning parties. After a 20-week anatomy scan diagnosed the unborn child, Baby Gabriel, with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a critical congenital heart condition, the intended parents demanded that West undergo an abortion. 

West refused the demand, stating she could not terminate the pregnancy, and traveled to Texas to give birth to ensure access to specialized medical care.

While West sought parentage and protective orders in Alaska and Texas, the commissioning parties filed a parentage action in the Los Angeles Superior Court. West entered a special appearance to contest personal jurisdiction and object to the forum, citing a forum-selection clause requiring litigation in Alaska.

However, the California trial court ruled that West's jurisdictional briefs and attached exhibits constituted a general appearance and manifested consent to the court's jurisdiction. The court subsequently entered an ex parte judgment of parentage in favor of the commissioning parties.

Following Baby Gabriel's birth in Texas on August 12, 2026, Texas courts granted full faith and credit to the California parentage judgment, dismissing West from the local proceedings with prejudice.

What's next:

Represented by a legal team including attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom and First & Fourteenth PLLC, M.W. has now petitioned Supreme Court Circuit Justice Elena Kagan for an emergency administrative stay and a stay pending a petition for certiorari. 

The application argues that the California courts violated federal due process by treating a jurisdictional defense as consent, and warns that without a stay, the infant could be removed for hospice care while West remains completely shut out from medical decisions regarding the child's life-saving treatment.

Texas