A Texas surrogate, McKenna West, has filed an emergency last-minute appeal with the US Supreme Court seeking to block a California court order that would let the baby's biological parents remove him from a Dallas hospital and take him to Los Angeles. West refused to have an abortion at the request of the couple, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, after the baby was diagnosed with a serious heart defect, and she is now trying to prevent the infant, born five weeks ago, from being taken out of Texas amid concerns over his medical care.

West's lawyers argue an immediate stay is urgently needed "to preserve the child's life," warning the couple could try to move the baby as early as 17 September, with a Texas hearing on the matter set for 15 September. West, who was dismissed from the Texas case on 2 September and thus lost standing to challenge the treatment order, contends the California ruling recognising the couple as legal parents violated her due process rights. She is ultimately seeking custody or conservatorship, citing the couple's earlier request for an abortion at 23 weeks and claims the newborn remains in critical condition; the Supreme Court is not obliged to take up the case, and surrogacy law varies by state in the absence of federal regulation.