Texas fight over Baby Gabriel ends in birth

A Texas legal fight over Baby Gabriel ended with his birth on Wednesday after state Attorney General Ken Paxton stepped in to back efforts to secure treatment for the newborn, whose condition had already set off a dispute between a surrogate and the baby’s intended parents. The case centered on whether the child would receive immediate medical care for a serious heart defect after birth.

According to Paxton’s office, surrogate mother McKenna West traveled to Texas after the baby was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome around the time she was 20 weeks pregnant. The attorney general’s office said that diagnosis led the child’s biological parents to ask West to have an abortion. Paxton then notified UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas that they had legal obligations to provide medically necessary, life-saving care once the baby was born.

Paxton said in a statement that a court had acted correctly in moving quickly to protect the child. He said his office used every tool it had to protect life and would continue supporting Baby Gabriel’s well-being. In the same statement, his office said the intended parents had refused to agree to consent to the surgery the child would need after birth, while West had traveled to Texas for protection and care for Gabriel.

The child was born on Wednesday, according to Fox News’ Kerri Urbahn, and was taken to a neonatal intensive care unit where doctors could soon perform surgery. Urbahn reported that the hospital where the procedure would likely take place has a 100% success rate on that operation. Paxton also said he would not allow anyone to unlawfully deny the baby medically necessary treatment and that his office would use every tool available to ensure care under Texas law.