Justice Elena Kagan rejected an emergency appeal from a surrogate who sought to challenge a California court's parentage ruling after refusing the intended parents' request for an abortion.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Tuesday declined to intervene in a custody dispute involving a surrogate mother and a California couple. The surrogate, McKenna West, had requested that the court halt a California order recognizing Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the legal parents of the child she gave birth to in Texas. The case centers on a surrogacy contract that included a provision allowing the couple to request an abortion following a fetal diagnosis.

Background of the Dispute

West, who resides in Alaska, became pregnant in December. Following a 20-week anatomy scan in April that revealed the fetus had hypoplastic left heart syndrome—a life-threatening condition affecting blood flow—the couple requested an abortion. West refused and traveled to Texas to give birth. The child, whom West calls Gabriel and the couple calls Rumi, was born on August 12 and subsequently underwent a Norwood procedure, the first of three surgeries typically required for the condition.

Legal Proceedings

Before the birth, a California court recognized Ahmed and Gilkar as the child's legal parents and granted them authority over medical decisions. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton previously intervened to ensure the hospital provided lifesaving care, though he has since withdrawn from the proceedings. West’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court argued that the California parentage order should be lifted, alleging the couple would not provide necessary care. The couple’s lawyers denied these claims and urged the court to reject the request, citing the potential for further medical instability.