Surrogate who refused to abort baby is in new battle with biological parents over child's name
The surrogate who refused to terminate her arranged pregnancy is embroiled in a new legal battle, after the name she gave him was reportedly changed by his biological parents.
Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed's paid surrogate, McKenna West, refused to terminate the pregnancy upon their request, which allegedly was in breach of her August 2025 surrogacy contract that stated an abortion would be required in the event of a serious fetal 'anomaly'.
The Californian couple had requested the termination of their baby boy at 20 weeks’ gestation when he was found to have hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare congenital condition in which the left side of the heart doesn't develop properly.
Left untreated, it can be fatal; however, there are ways to help the baby, such as the Norwood procedure - a complex open-heart surgery performed on newborns within their first few weeks of life.
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This is the surgery baby Gabriel – now named Rumi – underwent shortly after birth.
West, who lives in Alaska, traveled to Texas to deliver him in a hospital, as the state bans abortions in almost every circumstance.
West's legal team continues to refer to the baby as 'Gabriel', though Gilkar and Ahmed changed it after a Texas court granted the biological parents a restraining order over West, which allows them sole medical decision-making authority.
It also stops West from making decisions about the baby's care or meddling in their raising of him.
According to court docs obtained by TMZ, West has since asked the court to throw out counterclaims brought by Gilkar and Ahmed after the pair asked for more than $100,000 in damages because she allegedly broke the contract, but also because she named their son after his birth, more issues have arisen.
In her new filing, West said the pair are claiming she had violated their surrogacy agreement by calling the baby Gabriel.
She has since said, per the outlet, that the agreement allows the parents to ‘name any child born’ and that she must agree to ‘having this name selected by [the biological parents] placed on such child's birth certificate.’
However, she says that Gabriel is just a nickname, and not something that prevents the parents from legally naming their son Rumi.
Lee Budner, the attorney representing the biological parents, claimed to TMZ that West's ongoing legal battle for custody has shown that she 'continues to assert baseless claims for custody of Rumi, in violation of multiple court orders out of both Alaska and California'.
He also used the time to confirm the baby had the first of three needed surgeries to help his heart condition and is 'now recuperating under the loving care of his parents and his heroic team of doctors, nurses, and medical staff'.
Budner said the family won’t be sharing health updates and that Rumi’s 'condition remains critical and complex, and his family seeks privacy in caring for their son on his long road to recovery.'
This comes after West wrote an op-ed for the New York Post, writing about how she 'had her own plans to save' the baby alongside claims he was taken away the minute the umbilical cord was cut.
Britt Jones