Why this story is more complicated than it seems
When McKenna West, a cardiac nurse from Alaska, agreed to become the surrogate for a California couple late last year, she had no way of knowing that the decision would put her name in national headlines. However, when the baby she was carrying was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) in April, that all started to change.
The biological parents—Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed—pushed for an abortion and, initially, West agreed. However, she had a change of heart before going through with it and eventually sought refuge in Texas to ensure the child could be born and would be well-positioned to receive the necessary surgeries to save his life. The day before she gave birth, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened, and a judge in Dallas ruled that the baby must be given the necessary treatment and remain in Texas while also granting the biological parents’ request that West not be allowed to make medical decisions for the child or be around him.
The baby boy—who was named Rumi by his birth parents and Gabriel by West—has since received the first of those surgeries and is recovering. Details are sparse, though, and representatives for Gilkar and Ahmed have said they don’t intend to offer any further updates on the situation. However, the parents are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, at which point a judge will rule on the temporary restraining order they filed against West, so it’s likely they will have to provide updates at that point.
Until then, the story is likely to continue generating controversy, particularly because few seem to be able to agree on the details of what actually precipitated West’s flight to Texas.
Why the truth is hard to find
One of the most difficult parts of discerning fact from fiction in this story is that most of the details trickled out after the headlines had already been written. The largest point of contention surrounds the initial push for an abortion.
Court documents filed in Alaska on July 20 stipulate that Gilkar, Ahmed, and West were all in agreement on an abortion initially. However, the later-term nature of the pregnancy (West was at twenty weeks at the time of diagnosis) meant that she would have to travel from Alaska to Seattle to find a doctor willing to do it. While she waited for her appointment, she researched hospitals that treated HLHS and found that a Dallas hospital had a 100 percent success rate with the initial round of three surgeries.
She then decided against an abortion. When the biological parents learned of her decision, she claims they stopped covering her doctor’s visits and surrogacy payments while threatening to sue her if she refused to comply. They’ve since made good on that threat, suing West for $100,000 for an alleged breach of contract and emotional distress.
Eventually, both sides seem to have agreed to forgo abortion, and the primary point of contention shifted to where the child should be born. The parents pushed for California, while West was adamant that the hospitals in Texas were better suited to the necessary treatments.
At this point, it’s hard to know whether her highest priority was ensuring that the pregnancy would continue in a state where abortion is illegal or getting to a place with the highest quality of care. Perhaps both played a significant role in her decision.
Again, everyone has said the right things about wanting what’s best for the child in the days since this story became public, but the biological parents have to know that doing anything to jeopardize the health of the child now would look awful.
At the same time, West is now seeking parental rights and custody of the baby under the belief that Texas law “recognizes anyone who gives birth in Texas as the legal mother of the child.”
Where this story goes from here is anyone’s guess, but there are a few takeaways that we cannot afford to lose sight of amidst the conflict.
Three points to remember
First, human lives should never be used as political props.
While Ken Paxton and his office may have genuinely had the best interests of West and the baby she carried at heart when they interceded on their behalf, abortion has become such a political issue that it’s easy for people like Lee Budner, the lawyer for the biological parents, to denounce it as “political theater” when that’s how the issue of abortion has been used by other politicians in the past.
It’s great when governments—state or federal—pass laws that make it easier to protect life. But neither side wins when the actual lives at stake are lost in the shuffle. We cannot afford to forget that there are real people suffering and dying because of our culture’s inability to see that life is important at all stages.
Second, neither side is above making that mistake.
When those on the pro-choice side dehumanize a baby in the womb in order to advocate for its mother’s rights, it’s tragic and indefensible. However, when those on the pro-life side automatically villainize the mother when studies show more than three-quarters of them don’t want to get an abortion, we’re also in the wrong.
The truth is that all of us who care deeply about this issue are guilty of allowing emotions to narrow our focus to the point that we assume the worst of those who disagree with us. That’s not a good way to change hearts and minds, which is the only way we’ll ever see a real change in our nation’s approach to abortion. That doesn’t mean equivocating on the facts or budging on the truth, but God’s call to “speak the truth in love” is just as relevant to this topic as it is to the broader work of ministry (Ephesians 4:15).
Lastly, this story is still a cause for celebration.
For all the fighting, lawsuits, and discrepancies between each party’s account of what happened, a baby that would have died is now alive, and that’s important. While the child still has a long path ahead of him, for now at least, it appears he will receive the care he needs.
When dealing with a problem as vast as abortion, where more than a million lives are lost every year before they even get a chance to take their first breath, it’s easy to get discouraged. After all, more children are lost to abortion now than before Roe v. Wade was overturned. And when even the moments that feel like progress don’t seem to make much of a difference, remembering that every life saved is important can help us not lose hope. At the end of the day, that’s what I’m taking from this story.
So, while we should continue to pray for the baby, his biological parents, and for West, let’s also take a moment to rejoice in the simple fact that he is alive. Praise God for that.
Quote of the day:
“Words not spoken in love are like knocking on the door of an empty house. You can make a lot of noise, but no one will respond.” —T. J. Greene
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