When surrogate McKenna West left Alaska for Texas to give birth to a child whose biological parents had wanted an abortion, it spotlighted a legal fight with major questions around surrogacy, in vitro fertilization and parental rights.
The dispute has drawn national headlines, galvanizing abortion foes who see it as a possible precursor for future conflicts over state reproductive rights. The litigation has thus far played out in state courts across Alaska, California and Texas, with West fighting to take custody of baby Rumi — or “Gabriel” as West calls him — who is currently with his biological parents while undergoing treatment for a rare heart disorder.
“Abortion opponents are openly hoping this case gives them ammunition to push for a surrogacy ban in Texas next year,” said Rachel Rebouché, a University of Texas at Austin law professor. “Other ban-state legislatures could use this as a template to give AGs explicit statutory authority to intervene in surrogacy disputes involving fetal anomalies.”
A California court ruled that the biological parents have the rights to Rumi, triggering a Texas court to drop West from legal proceedings in the state. West has since urged the US Supreme Court to halt the dispute, claiming the biological parents could attempt to remove the baby from the hospital and take him to California for hospice.
The parents take issue with West’s characterization of events, informing the Supreme Court Friday that they’re already “ensuring their baby receives the same care” the surrogate wants.
The case serves as an “opportunity” for anti-abortion groups and elected officials to “make a public statement against surrogacy,” said Susan Crockin, senior scholar at Georgetown’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. When “you take an aberrational case like this and try to make a point of it, it worries me of what you might come out with in terms of legislation.”
Texas is one of around a dozen states with a total abortion ban. West’s case is playing out during a crucial moment for local politics, when the state’s Republican party is increasing hostilities toward IVF and surrogacy, making both issues key to their legislative agenda.
West’s legal fight “sends a message to other surrogates” that Texas is “a friendly venue” for ensuring medical care, said John Seago, president at Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group.
“Before the end of next summer, when our session concludes, you will probably see more prominent cases coming to Texas,” Seago said.
‘Birthright Citizenship in Reverse’
West’s legal fight with a California couple over Rumi has played across several state courts while, as West contends, the child’s life is in the balance.
In June, a California court declared the couple the child’s legal parents. Days later, West — who described herself as a nurse spending much time in Anchorage — urged an Alaskan court to void the surrogacy contract.
In July, West’s attorneys revealed she’d moved to Texas. The couple pursued a temporary restraining order in August against West. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened, arguing the state has a duty to protect the baby from harm, according to the filing. The court temporarily barred the baby’s removal from the state and ordered hospitals to provide “life-sustaining” medical care to the child.
The baby was born the next day, on Aug. 12.
“It’s almost like a birthright citizenship in reverse. If the child’s born here, then we have an interest,” Crockin said.
The Texas court recognized the California court’s decision and terminated West from the case, and Paxton withdrew. The baby is with the biological parents.
But the Texas GOP in its 2026 legislative priorities said it opposed “public funding for procedures that destroy embryonic life” and voiced support for alternative treatments “that respect human life from fertilization.” The GOP also urged lawmakers to “protect fetal life from destructive practices, such as IVF and commercial surrogacy.”
Doing away with IVF is “part of the next step” for the anti-abortion movement, said Malinda Seymore, Texas A&M University law professor.
Texas is a hotbed for surrogacy in the US, with the state reporting 657 surrogate births in 2025.
This “has to be weighed against an environment that is extremely negative for pregnancy,” Seymore said.
Legislative Push
In March, Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick asked state lawmakers to “examine the unethical and foreign interests exploiting the surrogacy and fertility industries.” Several months later, state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst held a hearing to explore ending “exploitation” of foreign national use of fertility and surrogacy in Texas.
So-called birther tourism has garnered attention. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott made cracking down on “unlawful birth tourism schemes” the focus of an executive order. The broader state GOP has also voiced support for banning contract surrogacy when it involves foreign nationals, in fear it will spur claims to citizenship.
“We are trying to figure out what is the strongest bill that we can get passed,” Seago said. His group testified at the Texas senate hearing, which also focused on how surrogacy contracts are “used to exploit women.”
In Seago’s view, West’s case emphasizes broader issues that conservative intellectuals want to tackle. Those are the “objectification of women” by treating them as “reproductive contractors” and commodifying children, i.e. viewing them as “products for sale.”
“The McKenna West case just really highlights the problems with surrogacy,” Seago said.
Surrogacy practices are governed state-by-state. That’s complicated by the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, where the justices struck down federal guarantees to abortions, triggering state restrictions across the country.
There’s “no coherent mechanism for resolving conflicts when a contract is executed in one state between parties in two others, and the surrogate moves to a third with entirely different laws mid-pregnancy,” University of Texas’ Rebouché said. “Post-Dobbs, these conflicts are now a permanent feature of the landscape, not edge cases.”
Source: Bloomberg September 21, 2026
