The surrogate in the center of a multi-state legal battle over a baby who was born with a rare heart condition sought to “set the record straight” on her motivations in an opinion editorial published in the New York Post on Thursday.McKenna West, a cardiac nurse from Alaska, gave birth in Texas last week to a baby boy that she was carrying on behalf of Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar.
The baby, Rumi, had surgery Monday for a rare congenital heart condition, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which often requires lifelong medical care.In her editorial, West said that she knew from her experience as a nurse that the baby she was carrying had a chance at survival through surgery.“People have called this political theater.
It isn’t,” she wrote.“This is about giving an innocent child a shot at the life he deserves.” A representative for Gilkar and Ahmed declined to comment on West’s editorial in a statement to NBC News on Thursday, citing a request from the court-appointed guardian in the legal proceedings.“The Guardian Ad Litem appointed to this case at the request of McKenna West and the Texas Attorney General has urged the parties to refrain from making statements to the press in the interest of protecting the privacy and well-being of the child,” the statement said.The months leading up to Rumi’s birth were contentious between his parents and West after the baby was diagnosed during a 20-week anatomy scan in April, according to court documents from both parties filed in Alaska this summer.
The surrogacy agreement which West signed prior to an embryo transfer last year included a clause that the parents could ask West to have an abortion in the case of fetal abnormalities, the documents said.West chose not to pursue a scheduled appointment to terminate the pregnancy after the heart defect was discovered, saying that she worried she would “not be able to live with” herself, according to her legal complaint seeking custody in Alaska.West c...