A surrogate mother refused to abort a baby diagnosed with a serious heart defect, and today that child is alive. Fox News reported on August 13 that McKenna West traveled to Texas after refusing the intended parents' request that she abort the baby she was carrying. The child, named Gabriel, was diagnosed around 20 weeks of pregnancy with
hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS, a severe congenital heart condition. West chose not to end his life. Instead, she sought a place where Gabriel could be born and receive medical treatment.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton became involved after West arrived in Texas. According to Fox News, Paxton's office formally notified UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical Center of Dallas that they were legally required to provide Gabriel with medically necessary, life-saving care after birth. Paxton's office said the intended parents had refused to agree that they would consent to the life-saving surgery Gabriel could need. A Texas court then acted to protect the baby's access to medical care.
Now this story has reached a powerful new chapter.
Gabriel was born Wednesday, August 12, and was taken to a neonatal intensive care unit. Fox News reported that doctors could soon perform the heart surgery needed to save his life. Fox correspondent Kerri Urbahn also reported that the hospital where the surgery would likely take place has a
100 percent success rate on the procedure.
Think about what that means. Gabriel was diagnosed with a serious medical condition before he was born. The response could have been to end his life before anyone ever had the opportunity to meet him. Instead, West said no. Today Gabriel is not a diagnosis on an ultrasound.
He is a newborn baby in a hospital receiving the medical care he needs.
This case also exposes a serious contradiction in the abortion debate. Americans are constantly told that women must have control over decisions involving their pregnancies. But what happens when a woman carrying a child chooses life and refuses an abortion? Should a contract give someone else the power to pressure her into ending that pregnancy? West's decision raises important questions about the rights of surrogate mothers and the limits of surrogacy agreements.
There is also a larger moral issue that should not be ignored.
A disability or serious medical diagnosis should not determine whether a child deserves to live. Gabriel's heart condition makes his life more medically complicated. It does not make his life less valuable. Children with disabilities and serious illnesses deserve treatment, compassion and protection, not a death sentence before birth.
Paxton summed up the issue clearly when his office argued that Gabriel deserved the opportunity to receive medically necessary care. Whatever happens in the continuing legal dispute among the adults, Gabriel is now here. He is alive. Doctors are caring for him. And because his surrogate mother refused to abort him,
he has something every unborn child deserves: a chance at life.
