At the intersection of contract law, reproductive ethics, and parental rights, a surrogate from Alaska has carried her refusal to terminate a pregnancy all the way to the steps of the Supreme Court. McKenna West, who traveled to Texas to give birth to a child with a serious heart condition, now asks the nation's highest court to pause a custody transfer while fundamental questions about jurisdiction, consent, and a surrogate's legal standing remain unanswered. The case forces a reckoning with what it means to hold authority over a life when the people who created it, carried it, and contracted
Surrogate seeks Supreme Court intervention to prevent newborn's relocation to California
A newborn with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome is at the center of a custody dispute between a surrogate and the biological parents.
She remained unable to participate in decisions about the child's medical treatment.
Mark
Why did West travel to Texas to give birth if she was already committed to the surrogacy agreement with a California couple?
Mimi
She says she went to Texas because she refused the parents' request to abort the fetus after the heart condition diagnosis. She believed Texas offered better access to specialized medical care for a child with that condition.
Luke
But that's her explanation. The commissioning parents presumably have a different view of why she went there and what it means for the agreement.
Mark
How did a California court get jurisdiction if the surrogacy agreement said disputes had to be litigated in Alaska?
Mimi
West filed a special appearance objecting to jurisdiction and citing the forum-selection clause. But the trial court ruled that by submitting her objection with supporting documents, she had consented to California's authority.
Luke
That's a significant legal move—treating a jurisdictional objection as consent. It's the kind of ruling that would normally be appealed before a judgment on the merits. The fact that it happened and stuck suggests either West's legal position was weak at that moment, or the California court was aggressive in its interpretation.
Mark
What happens to the child medically if he's moved to California?
Mimi
West fears he'll be moved for hospice care, and she won't be able to participate in medical decisions. But we don't know what the commissioning parents' actual medical plan is.
Luke
Right. We know West's fear and her characterization of what might happen. We don't have the commissioning parents' medical plan or their reasoning for wanting the child in California. That's a gap in what we can confirm.
Mark
Can West actually win this at the Supreme Court?
Mimi
She's asking for an emergency stay first, which is a lower bar than winning the full case. She needs to show irreparable harm and a likelihood of success on the merits.
Luke
The emergency stay is about preventing the move before the Court can decide whether to hear the case at all. Even if she gets the stay, that doesn't mean the Supreme Court will take the case or rule in her favor on the underlying jurisdictional question.
Le Pouls
- A newborn with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome lies at the center of a legal storm, her medical fragility making every court delay feel like a countdown.
- West fears the child will be transferred to California for hospice care before the Supreme Court can even read her emergency application — a window she estimates closes by early Tuesday afternoon.
- California courts ruled that West's very act of contesting their authority constituted acceptance of it, a legal paradox her attorneys argue strips surrogates of any meaningful way to challenge jurisdiction.
- Texas courts, rather than asserting their own authority over a child born on their soil, deferred to the California parentage ruling and dismissed West from the proceedings entirely.
- Alliance Defending Freedom and co-counsel have escalated the matter directly to Justice Elena Kagan, framing the case as a due process violation with immediate, irreversible consequences for a living child.
At the intersection of contract law, reproductive ethics, and parental rights, a surrogate from Alaska has carried her refusal to terminate a pregnancy all the way to the steps of the Supreme Court. McKenna West, who traveled to Texas to give birth to a child with a serious heart condition, now asks the nation's highest court to pause a custody transfer while fundamental questions about jurisdiction, consent, and a surrogate's legal standing remain unanswered. The case forces a reckoning with what it means to hold authority over a life when the people who created it, carried it, and contracted over it cannot agree on its fate.
McKenna West, a surrogate from Alaska, filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking to block a newborn from being moved from Texas to California while a custody dispute remains unresolved. The child, born August 12 with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, was at the center of a conflict that began when West refused the biological parents' request to terminate the pregnancy and traveled to Texas, believing it offered better access to the specialized care the child would need.
The commissioning couple — a California pair — responded by filing a parentage action in Los Angeles Superior Court, arguing their surrogacy contract and California law gave the court authority over the matter. West contested jurisdiction, pointing to a forum-selection clause in the agreement that required disputes to be litigated in Alaska. The California court rejected her challenge, ruling that by submitting her objections she had effectively consented to its authority, then issued a parentage judgment in the couple's favor without West present. A Texas court later recognized that ruling and dismissed West from the case entirely.
Working with attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom and First & Fourteenth PLLC, West brought her emergency application to Justice Elena Kagan, arguing that California's treatment of her jurisdictional defense as a waiver violated federal due process guarantees. She requested an administrative stay by 1 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, warning that the child's transfer to California for hospice care was imminent and would render any future legal victory meaningless.
The case surfaces questions that surrogacy law has not yet fully resolved: which state holds authority when a surrogate, the biological parents, and the birth location are each in different jurisdictions; whether a surrogate retains any legal standing once a parentage order is issued; and what recourse exists when a surrogate and commissioning parents hold irreconcilable views about a child's medical care. The Supreme Court's response will determine whether the newborn remains in Texas pending further proceedings or whether the biological parents may proceed with the transfer.
McKenna West, a surrogate from Alaska, filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, asking the justices to block the removal of a newborn from Texas to California while a custody dispute plays out. The case centers on a child born August 12 with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a serious heart condition that requires specialized medical intervention. West had refused the biological parents' request to terminate the pregnancy and traveled to Texas specifically to give birth, believing the state offered better access to the medical care the child would need.
The legal battle began when a California couple—referred to in court documents as the commissioning parties—sought to enforce a surrogacy agreement. After West declined their request for an abortion, they filed a parentage action in Los Angeles Superior Court, asserting that California law and their surrogacy contract gave them jurisdiction over the case. West objected, filing a special appearance to contest the court's authority and pointing to a forum-selection clause in the agreement that required any disputes be litigated in Alaska.
The California trial court rejected West's jurisdictional challenge, ruling that by submitting her objections and supporting documents, she had effectively consented to the court's authority. The judge then issued an ex parte judgment of parentage in favor of the commissioning couple without West present or able to respond. When the child was born in Texas weeks later, a Texas court recognized the California ruling and dismissed West from the case entirely, barring her from filing the same claim again.
West's legal team, working with attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom and First & Fourteenth PLLC, escalated the matter to the Supreme Court. In her emergency application to Justice Elena Kagan, who handles urgent matters from the Ninth Circuit, West argued that the California courts violated federal due process by treating her jurisdictional defense as consent to their authority. She also contended that without immediate intervention, the child would be moved to California for hospice care while she remained unable to participate in any medical decisions affecting the newborn.
The timing of the appeal reflects West's concern that events were moving faster than anticipated. She requested that the Supreme Court issue an administrative stay by 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, fearing the child's relocation was imminent. The case raises fundamental questions about which state's courts have authority in surrogacy disputes, how a surrogate's legal rights are protected when she disagrees with commissioning parents, and what happens when a surrogate and biological parents have irreconcilable views about a child's medical care and upbringing.
The commissioning parents have maintained throughout that California has proper jurisdiction under the surrogacy agreement and that they are the child's legal parents. West's position is that the agreement itself required disputes be resolved in Alaska, and that California courts overstepped by treating her jurisdictional objection as a waiver of that protection. The Supreme Court's response to her emergency stay request will determine whether the child remains in Texas pending further legal proceedings or whether the commissioning parents can proceed with moving the newborn to California.
Citations marquantes
West argued that California courts violated federal due process by treating her jurisdictional defense as consent to their authority.— West's legal team, Alliance Defending Freedom and First & Fourteenth PLLC
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