Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has ordered that Texas hospitals treat an unborn child with a serious heart defect after his intended parents requested that the surrogate mother carrying him abort the pregnancy.
“Baby Gabriel deserves a chance at life, and I will not allow anyone to unlawfully deny him medically necessary care,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement released August 11. “My office will use every tool available to protect innocent lives and ensure that every child receives the care required under Texas law.”
“Baby Gabriel” refers to an unborn child currently being carried by McKenna West, a gestational surrogate from Alaska. West’s due date is September 2, 2026.
At approximately 20 weeks’ gestation, Gabriel was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition in which the left side of the heart does not develop properly.
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome has a 70 per cent survival rate to the age of five if medical intervention occurs shortly after birth.
The intended parents, who live in California, requested that West have an abortion after learning about Gabriel’s diagnosis. She refused, then travelled to Texas. Abortion is not legal in Texas, and the state is home to the country’s top paediatric cardiology specialist.
Gabriel’s intended parents say they do not wish for Gabriel to undergo surgery to correct his condition.
A court case is ongoing in the state of California. Paxton’s intervention is designed to ensure that Gabriel receives care, regardless of how the case is decided.
Paxton’s letter, which was addressed to two of Texas’s top hospitals – UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas – explains that upon his birth, Gabriel is to be treated for his heart condition and is not to be removed from the state of Texas.
“The State does not suggest that anyone has done anything improper. It does not question the medical judgement of the physicians who will care for this child. The State writes because the timeline is short, the decisions will be made under pressure, and everyone involved should be working from the same understanding of what the law requires,” said Paxton.
A pro-life organisation in Texas praised Paxton’s intervention in the case.
“We applaud Attorney General Ken Paxton for taking swift action to protect baby Gabriel’s life. No contract should have the power to require a child to die because of a disability or diagnosis,” said Amy O’Donnell, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life.
She continued: “Every unborn child is valuable and worthy of protection, and we are proud to live in a state where the sanctity of human life is recognised and protected from conception to natural death. Texas Alliance for Life supports common-sense guardrails for surrogacy that protect both women and the lives of the babies they carry.”
