A single mother and surrogate in Alaska is fighting to keep a pregnancy after her biological parents demanded an abortion due to a treatable heart defect.
The mother, 35-year-old McKenna West, had agreed to act as a surrogate to help with finances while raising her two children.
During a routine anatomy scan at 20 weeks, doctors identified hypoplastic left heart syndrome in the fetus, a condition that can be treated with early surgery.
The defect reduces the left side of the heart but surgery after birth offers a 75 percent chance of survival to age five and a higher long‑term survival rate for those reaching one year.
The couple from California invoked an “abortion on demand” clause in the surrogacy contract and instructed West to terminate the pregnancy.
When a late‑term procedure could not be performed in Alaska, they demanded West travel to Seattle for an abortion and threatened a $250,000 lawsuit if she refused.
West declined, citing the procedure’s potential to end the baby’s life, and offered to assume full responsibility for the child and relinquish parental rights if the couple would commit to necessary surgeries.
The couple rejected those offers and instead pursued a plan for palliative care, allowing the infant to die after birth.
West relocated to Texas to access specialized pediatric cardiac care and filed legal actions to secure custody and ensure treatment for the baby.
The parents are pursuing court action in Alaska and California to compel West to give birth in California and assert their parental rights.
They accuse West of misrepresenting medical facts and of pursuing financial gain, noting her refusal to undergo amniocentesis.
The baby is scheduled to be born on September 3, and the outcome of the legal battle will determine whether the infant receives life‑saving surgery.
