Baby Gabriel’s ‘parents’ slam attorney general for ordering life-saving measures

By Bob Unruh

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

Baby Gabriel was born in Texas after the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, intervened and obtained a court order protecting the birth and calling for medical treatment for a heart condition.

It was news because the surrogate carrying Gabriel has refused the so-called parents orders for an abortion when the heart problem was diagnosed.

But now those two, according to a report from LifeNews, have obtained custody of the baby through a California court order, and are blasting Paxton for his actions that allowed a live birth.

Instead of an aborted dead baby.

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Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of Los Angeles, the biological parents, obtained a temporary court order granting them decision-making authority and physical custody of the infant less than 24 hours after his birth, the report explained.

And in court filings, they blast Paxton for intervening. They argue his concerns lack standing and that only the Department of Children and Family Services may step in.

“They contend the state’s request would deprive them of their ‘fundamental constitutional interest in the care, custody, control and medical decision-making for their child without constitutionally adequate notice, process, and opportunity to be heard … in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” according to LifeNews.

The newborn arrived August 12 in Dallas, with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. That’s a serious issue, but is treatable.

It was surrogate mother McKenna West, an Alaska nurse and single mother of two, who refused orders from the duo to abort the child under a contract clause calling for death if an “anomaly” was found. She traveled to Texas in order to obtain what protection for the birth she could obtain.

The California duo claimed there never was any intention to withhold care, stating they “consistently sought the opportunity to consult” with doctors to make informed medical decisions.

LifeNews charges, “Their attorney said they ‘had frequently sought involvement in the medical process and had made the decision, which they felt was best for the baby’ – as if killing the baby is somehow the best decision for Gabriel.”

They accused West and Paxton of turning their “family tragedy” into political theater.

Paxton’s office explained, “Once the child is born alive in Texas, he will be a complete legal person, and Texas will protect his life without regard to the circumstances of his conception or the terms of any private agreement.”

The dispute over treatment and custody continues, while Gabriel is receiving specialized care in Texas, under an court order that he not be removed from the state.

WorldNetDaily reported when Paxton sought, and obtained, court protection for the then-unborn child.

Dr. Eithan Haim, who called for Texas authorities to step up, had provided the background:

“A California couple demanded the surrogate mother abort the baby, Gabriel, after he was diagnosed with a treatable heart condition. HLHS. The surrogate mother refused – she offered to adopt and raise the baby. They are now at (a hospital) in Dallas, which has a near 100% success rate for treating this type of heart condition. Despite this, the parents are demanding the surrogate give the baby to them in California after Gabriel is born. What will they do with that baby? ‘Palliative care.'”

Haim explained, “This is just a euphemism for murder, infanticide – because they see baby Gabriel as material product they bought and incubated in a peasant woman, there is no problem for them to throw it out in the garbage.”

Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is currently a news editor for the WND News Center, and also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.


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