2026年9月10日 / 美国东部时间下午6:56 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
一名加州夫妇的代孕母亲拒绝了他们堕胎的要求,现已请求美国最高法院介入对这名现年4周大的婴儿的监护权纠纷。该婴儿出生时患有严重心脏缺陷。
麦肯纳·韦斯特于周三提起紧急上诉,这场围绕代孕和堕胎的法律官司得到了共和党公职人员和反堕胎组织的支持。韦斯特是一名居住在阿拉斯加州的护士,她于8月前往达拉斯分娩。目前德克萨斯州大部分堕胎行为已被禁止。
韦斯特请求美国最高法院叫停加州法院的一项判决,该判决承认奥马尔·艾哈迈德和瑙欣·吉尔卡尔是这名孩子的父母——韦斯特给孩子取名为加布里埃尔,而艾哈迈德夫妇则称他为鲁米。
韦斯特希望获得最终监护权或监护权,因为她认为这对夫妇不会为孩子提供挽救生命的治疗,她援引了两人在怀孕23周时曾要求堕胎的事实。
这名男婴于8月12日出生,患有左心发育不全综合征,这是一种危及生命的疾病,会导致正常血液无法流向心脏。
就在他出生前,德克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿的办公室介入了此案,并获得了一项紧急法院命令,要求男婴接受救命医疗护理。
“想到可能出现问题,而我可能无法决定治疗方案,这令人恐惧,”韦斯特上个月在接受反堕胎组织“现场行动”采访时说道。
男婴出生后不久就接受了手术。艾哈迈德夫妇的律师李·巴德纳在8月份表示,这名新生儿病情危急,似乎“存在潜在并发症”。
代孕在联邦层面没有监管规定,每个州都有各自的法律,这可能留下法律解释的空白。最高法院并非必须受理此案。
艾哈迈德和吉尔卡尔尚未就最高法院的诉状作出回应。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻已联系这对夫妇的律师,就这份紧急请愿书置评。
这对夫妇此前称韦斯特违反了代孕合同,并已从德克萨斯州法院获得限制令,禁止韦斯特探视或抱走孩子。该法院还裁定,医疗决策由艾哈迈德和吉尔卡尔负责,而非韦斯特。
吉尔卡尔在8月25日达拉斯的一场听证会上称韦斯特“精神不稳定”,并告诉法庭韦斯特正试图抢走他们的孩子。
“他是我们的孩子,”吉尔卡尔一边擦眼泪一边说道。
在那场听证会上,吉尔卡尔作证称韦斯特从未告诉她和艾哈迈德自己要来德克萨斯州分娩,并指控韦斯特拒绝提供孩子的医疗记录,韦斯特在听证会上承认了这一点。
吉尔卡尔告诉法庭,她和丈夫早在5月份就因为心脏缺陷问题,要求终止代孕妊娠。
在听证会上,韦斯特表示她想要获得孩子的监护权,但如果这对夫妇同意为婴儿提供救命治疗,她可以放弃所有监护权主张。
“拒绝提供救命治疗绝非事实,”吉尔卡尔在法庭上说,“我们悲痛欲绝……我们最想要的就是这个孩子。”
麦肯纳·韦斯特(中)于2026年8月25日在德克萨斯州达拉斯的一场关于代孕婴儿案件的庭审后离开法庭。千住铃木/《达拉斯晨报》通过盖蒂图片社拍摄
韦斯特和她的律师辩称,吉尔卡尔和艾哈迈德并未承诺确保孩子接受手术或“挽救生命的治疗”。
8月25日的听证会结束后,双方均保持沉默,案件档案也被封存,但韦斯特提交给最高法院的诉状显示,她在德克萨斯州争取孩子监护权的请求已被驳回。
根据诉状,德克萨斯州法院于9月2日完全认可了加州的判决。
代理过父母、代孕母亲和捐赠者的律师玛拉·诺伊菲尔德并未参与此案,她表示最高法院受理上诉的可能性很低。她指出,紧急救济通常极难获得,且最高法院通常不会介入家庭纠纷。
“下级法院的判决事关重大,”韦斯特的律师在提交给最高法院的请愿书中写道,他们请求根据德克萨斯州法律承认韦斯特的母亲身份。“但由于这项非法的加州判决,她在德克萨斯州的诉讼程序中被驳回起诉,且被剥夺了了解或控制这名医疗状况脆弱的孩子的任何权利。”
根据诉状,韦斯特认为艾哈迈德和吉尔卡尔计划将孩子送往加利福尼亚州的临终关怀机构,而非让他接受可能挽救生命的手术。
根据美国疾病控制与预防中心的数据,如果不接受治疗,左心发育不全综合征可能会在数天或数周内导致死亡。手术修复未必能治愈,可能还需要额外的手术或心脏移植。
根据克利夫兰诊所的信息,这名婴儿需要在4至6个月大时接受第二次手术,然后在18个月至4岁之间接受第三次手术。
诉状称,这对夫妇表示不会向韦斯特提供任何有关孩子病情的最新消息。
Surrogate appeals to Supreme Court in custody dispute over baby born in Texas with heart defect
September 10, 2026 / 6:56 PM EDT / CBS/AP
A California couple’s surrogate who refused their wishes to have an abortion has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a custody dispute over the 4-week-old child, who was born with a serious heart defect.
McKenna West filed the emergency appeal Wednesday amid a legal battle over surrogacy and abortion that has won the support of Republican officeholders and anti-abortion groups. West, a nurse who lives in Alaska, traveled to Dallas to give birth in August. Most abortions are banned in Texas.
West is asking the nation’s highest court to halt a California court order that recognizes Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the parents of the child whom she calls Gabriel, and they call Rumi.
West wants final custody or conservatorship because she believes the couple will not provide lifesaving care, citing their request for an abortion at 23 weeks.
The boy was born Aug. 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a life-threatening condition that prevents normal blood flow to the organ.
Just before his birth, the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened in the case and obtained an emergency court order requiring that the boy receive lifesaving medical care.
“It was scary to think that something might be wrong, and that I may be the one that’s not able to make a decision about the treatment,” West said in an interview last month with Live Action, an anti-abortion rights organization.
He underwent surgery soon after he was born. The couple’s attorney, Lee Budner, said in August that the newborn was in critical condition and appeared to be “suffering from potential complications.”
Surrogacy is not regulated at the federal level. Each state has its own laws, which can leave room for gaps in interpretation. The Supreme Court is not obliged to hear the case.
Ahmed and Gilkar have not yet responded to the Supreme Court filing. CBS News has reached out to the couple’s attorney for comment on the emergency petition.
The couple previously said West violated the surrogacy contract, and they obtained a restraining order from a Texas court preventing her from seeing or holding the child. That court also ruled that Ahmed and Gilkar, not West, are responsible for medical decisions.
Gilkar called West “mentally unstable” during a hearing Aug. 25 in Dallas, telling the court West was trying to take their baby away.
“He’s our child,” Gilkar said, wiping away tears.
During that hearing, Gilkar testified that West never told her or Ahmed that she was traveling to Texas, and alleged that West withdrew access to the child’s medical records, a claim which West admitted to in the hearing.
Gilkar told the court that she and her husband did request to terminate the surrogate pregnancy back in May because of the heart defect.
In the hearing, West said that she wanted custody of the child, but was open to the idea of dropping any custody claims if the couple agreed to the baby’s lifesaving care.
“Denying lifesaving care is not true,” Gilkar said in court. “We are devastated … We’ve never wanted anything more than those babies.”
McKenna West, center, leaves a courtroom after a court hearing regarding the surrogacy baby case, on Aug. 25, 2026, in Dallas, Texas. Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News via Getty Images
West and her attorneys argue that Gilkar and Ahmed are not committed to guaranteeing the baby will undergo surgeries or “life-saving care.”
Both sides were publicly silent after the Aug. 25 hearing, and the case file was sealed, but West’s Supreme Court filing says she lost her plea in Texas to win conservatorship of the child.
The Texas court granted full credit to the California judgment on Sept. 2, according to the filing.
The odds of the Supreme Court granting the appeal are low, said Marla Neufeld, an attorney who represents parents, surrogates and donors but who isn’t involved in this case. Emergency relief is usually extraordinarily difficult to obtain and the Supreme Court doesn’t usually get involved in family disputes, she said.
“The stakes of the decisions below are enormous,” West’s lawyers wrote in her plea to the Supreme Court, asking that she be recognized as the mother under Texas law. “But because of the unlawful California judgment, she has been dismissed with prejudice from the Texas proceedings and denied any information about or control over the medically fragile child.”
West believes Ahmed and Gilkar plan to put the baby into hospice care in California rather than let him undergo surgery that could save his life, according to the filing.
Without treatment, hypoplastic left heart syndrome can lead to death within days or weeks. Surgical repairs are not necessarily cures and additional surgeries or heart transplants may be needed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the baby will need a second surgery between 4 and 6 months of age, and then a third surgery between 18 months and 4 years old.
The couple has said they will not provide any updates to West about the child’s condition, the filing states.
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