Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has intervened in the life-or-death legal fight over Baby Gabriel, the unborn baby boy with a treatable heart condition whose surrogate mother has refused demands from the biological parents to abort him.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Alaskan nurse and single mother McKenna West has been battling California couple Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed after they invoked an “abortion on demand” clause in their surrogacy contract following the diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome at around 20 weeks.
West rejected the abortion, left Alaska for Texas to access specialized pediatric cardiac care, and has been seeking custody or assurances that the baby would receive the necessary surgeries after birth rather than being subjected to palliative care, requested by the biological parents, that would let him just die.
On Tuesday, Paxton’s office announced that the attorney general had intervened in the Dallas County parentage case to protect the life of the child, who is expected to be born imminently.
Paxton filed a motion asking the district court to issue orders directing the baby’s medical care upon birth, barring his removal from the state, and setting an expedited hearing if the intended parents refuse consent for treatment.
BREAKING: I am fighting to save an unborn child diagnosed with a treatable heart condition and am demanding that Dallas hospitals provide life-saving care. pic.twitter.com/GWjEzRqYrk
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 11, 2026
His office also formally notified UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas of their legal obligation under Texas law to provide medically necessary, life-saving care, noting that physicians may administer emergency life-sustaining treatment without parental consent or a court order and urging the hospitals to reject any attempt to transfer the newborn out of state.
“Baby Gabriel deserves a chance at life, and I will not allow anyone to unlawfully deny him medically necessary care,” Paxton wrote. “My office will use every tool available to protect innocent lives and ensure that every child receives the care required under Texas law.”
According to the filings, the intended parents have refused to agree to the life-saving surgery, which typically involves three staged procedures beginning with the Norwood shortly after birth, and may try to take the child to California so treatment decisions can be made under that state’s laws.
West had offered to assume full responsibility for Gabriel or renounce any parental claims if the couple committed to the surgeries, but those offers were rejected.
Paxton emphasized that a gestational agreement cannot expand parental authority beyond what Texas law permits and that the state can override decisions that endanger a child’s welfare.
West has told the New York Post in a statement, “Every life matters. No woman should be forced to end the life of the baby she is carrying — including me… Baby Gabriel should receive a chance at life.”
Baby Gabriel is due on September 3.
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