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The parents locked in a custody battle with their surrogate have launched a blistering new attack on the woman who refused their request to abort their severely ill baby.
Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar are accusing surrogate McKenna West, 28, of 'fabricating' an emergency and putting the child's medical care at risk.
The accusations were made in a new filing with the US Supreme Court as the bitter, multi-state fight over their five-week-old son reaches the nation's highest court.
asserted
fight → see → court
Their attorneys accused West of conducting a 'publicity tour,' making false claims about the baby's healthcare and pursuing legal action that they say could actually jeopardize his treatment.
uncertain
they → accuse → treatment
The astonishing counterattack comes after West asked the Supreme Court to halt a California judgment recognizing Ahmed and Gilkar as the legal parents of the desperately sick newborn, whom they call Rumi and West calls Gabriel.
asserted
West → come → whom
West carried the child as the couple's gestational surrogate but refused to terminate the pregnancy after he was diagnosed in the womb with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS.
asserted
he → carry → syndrome
The potentially fatal condition leaves the left side of the heart severely underdeveloped and prevents normal blood flow and usually requires a series of major operations beginning shortly after birth.
asserted
condition → leave → birth
Even with treatment, children with the condition can face serious lifelong complications.
asserted
children → face → complications
West is now seeking custody or conservatorship, arguing that she fears the couple could withhold lifesaving treatment.
uncertain
couple → seek → treatment
Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed insist they have never wavered in their commitment to securing lifesaving medical treatment for their desperately ill son
Surrogate mother McKenna West, 28, carried the baby as a gestational surrogate but refused to terminate the pregnancy after learning he had a severe congenital heart defect
Baby Rumi is pictured surrounded by medical equipment and monitors as he receives intensive hospital treatment for his severe congenital heart condition
Ahmed and Gilkar have vehemently rejected that allegation.
Their lawyers said in Friday's filing that granting West's requested emergency stay would 'endanger rather than safeguard' Rumi by throwing into doubt who has authority to approve his medical treatment.
asserted
who → insist → treatment
'McKenna West fabricated an emergency,' attorney Adam Wolf said in a statement accompanying the filing.
asserted
Wolf → fabricate → filing
'If the Supreme Court were to grant the application for an emergency stay, it would threaten Rumi's ability to receive necessary healthcare, further stacking the deck against him.
asserted
it → grant → him
It's time to stop playing politics.
asserted
It → stop → politics
The parents' attorneys also turned their ire on West's public campaign surrounding the extraordinary dispute.
'While McKenna West has been conducting a publicity tour, Rumi's parents have been quietly caring for their child and following the recommendations of Rumi's medical team,' attorney Lee Budner said.
asserted
Budner → turn → team
Budner argued that putting the California parentage ruling on hold would not suddenly make West Rumi's parent, but could create dangerous uncertainty for doctors.
uncertain
putting → argue → doctors
'A stay would not change who Rumi's parents are,' he said.
asserted
he → change → ?
'It would only create confusion over medical decision-making authority and jeopardize the providers' ability to rely on the parents' consent to Rumi's treatment.
asserted
It → create → treatment
The tiny five-week-old lies amid tubes, wires and breathing equipment following major heart surgery, as the bitter legal battle over his future continues
West, center, has taken the extraordinary custody battle to the US Supreme Court, seeking emergency intervention in the fight over the baby's parentage and care
West and her attorneys have repeatedly pushed for the surrogate to have decision-making authority over the baby, who has remained in his biological parents' care since he was born on August 12
'No parents should face such uncertainty and confusion regarding their child's life.'
asserted
parents → lie → life
The escalating war of words follows months of extraordinary legal maneuvering stretching across California, Alaska and Texas.
asserted
war → escalate → California
West entered a gestational surrogacy agreement with Ahmed and Gilkar before the pregnancy.
asserted
West → enter → pregnancy
But everything changed when Rumi was diagnosed in April with HLHS.
asserted
Rumi → change → HLHS
Ahmed and Gilkar acknowledge that they initially wanted the pregnancy terminated following the devastating diagnosis.
asserted
pregnancy → acknowledge → diagnosis
West scheduled an abortion appointment but ultimately decided she could not go through with it.
uncertain
she → schedule → it
'I knew that this baby, despite the diagnosis, had a great chance at survival and a great chance at leading a long life,' West later told a Texas court.
asserted
West → know → court
The couple have denied forcing her to have an abortion and say that after she changed her mind they began preparing for their son's extensive medical needs.
asserted
they → deny → needs
The relationship nevertheless collapsed.
asserted
relationship → collapse → ?
West traveled from Alaska to Texas in July and eventually gave birth there on August 12.
asserted
West → travel → August
Ahmed and Gilkar rushed from California to Texas after learning she was going to be induced.
asserted
she → rush → Texas
West claims she is not fighting to 'try to take someone else's baby,' but instead advocating for a child to get the 'ongoing treatment his fragile heart requires'
uncertain
heart → claim → treatment
Rumi required intensive medical care from birth and has already undergone major heart surgery.
asserted
Rumi → require → surgery
Photographs released by his parents this week show the tiny infant surrounded by medical equipment with a surgical scar running down his chest.
asserted
infant → release → chest
At an emotional August court hearing, Gilkar broke down while describing her fight to become a mother following eight unsuccessful rounds of IVF and a hysterectomy.
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Gilkar → break → IVF
'He's our child,' she said through tears.
asserted
she → say → tears
'We've never wanted anything more than this baby.'
asserted
We → want → baby
Gilkar also rejected West's suggestion that the couple would deny their son lifesaving care.
asserted
couple → reject → care
'Denying lifesaving care is not true,' she told the court.
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she → deny → court
'We are devastated.'
asserted
We → devastate → ?
West has continued to argue that she should have legal authority to protect the child and has taken her fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
Her lawyers have argued that the California parentage judgment was imposed without adequate due process and that she was subsequently shut out of the Texas case concerning the infant.
asserted
she → continue → infant
Her Supreme Court application warned that without intervention, Ahmed and Gilkar could halt lifesaving treatment before the justices even had the opportunity to consider her case.
uncertain
justices → warn → case
The parents have now turned that argument on its head.
asserted
parents → turn → head
West is in the midst of a legal battle with California couple Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed after she refused to abort their child, who was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect while in utero
Their attorneys say Ahmed and Gilkar have followed the recommendations of Rumi's doctors and have been a constant presence at the hospital.
asserted
Ahmed → refuse → hospital
On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for the couple to take their son from Texas to Los Angeles, where they live, after concluding that the evidence did not cast doubt on their commitment to obtaining appropriate medical treatment for him.
asserted
evidence → clear → him
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
