When a surrogacy arrangement fractured over a prenatal diagnosis, it drew courts across three states into a contest over who holds the deepest claim to a child — the woman who carried him or the couple who commissioned his life. Justice Elena Kagan declined to disturb a California order granting the intended parents custody and medical authority over a newborn with a severe heart defect, leaving the surrogate, McKenna West, without the Supreme Court's intervention. The case surfaces enduring tensions at the intersection of contract, biology, and parenthood — questions the Court's silence has p
Supreme Court declines surrogate's emergency appeal in custody dispute over baby with heart defect
A newborn with a life-threatening heart condition became the subject of a multi-state custody dispute, requiring emergency surgery and intensive care.