Markets 
Surrogate McKenna West claims she’s hemorrhaging cash after refusing to get an abortion despite the wishes of the baby’s biological parents – who allegedly didn’t deliver their end of the deal, according to her attorney and a desperate online fundraiser.
“McKenna has already sacrificed so much,” reads the bio of a GiveSendGo campaign that had raked in more than $66,000 by Friday to help West “cover travel and living expenses, and continue fighting to protect this baby’s life.”
The 28-year-old Alaskan nurse apparently needs help financing her stay in Dallas, where she fled to give birth to Los Angeles parents Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed’s biological son Wednesday – despite the couple asking her to terminate the pregnancy after the baby was diagnosed with a severe but treatable heart condition at around 20 weeks.
“She has lost the payments she was relying on and is now facing the possibility of being sued for all money paid to her – or on her behalf – since the beginning of her surrogacy journey,” reads the fundraiser, which was created by a friend only identified as Ellen.
“She has also relocated away from home and is taking time off work while continuing to cover expenses back home,” the page continues, noting that West was already set to run out of paid time off from her nursing job in Anchorage before she was originally due to give birth on Sept. 2.
West has vowed to wage a full-throttle legal battle for custody after the baby was placed in the biological parents’ care within 24 hours of his birth – and despite reproductive law attorney Marla Neufeld previously telling The Post that the surrogate has virtually no legal claim to the child.
Her lawyer, Lincoln Wilson, claimed Friday that the intended parents “haven’t given [West] anything” since asking her to terminate the pregnancy – even though a clause in their surrogacy contract allowed the couple to seek an abortion if an “anomaly” was discovered.
“They said when they demanded an abortion, ‘Hey, can we just pay you half for the next month since you’re gonna be aborting this child?’” Wilson alleged in a phone interview with The Post.
West initially agreed to terminate the pregnancy, Gilkar and Ahmed have claimed in court papers, but she later changed her mind and accused the couple of trying to force her to have an abortion – an allegation they have denied, the Texas Tribune reported.
The parents ultimately decided to see the pregnancy through to delivery, opting to name the boy Rumi and have West deliver in California, where he would receive lifelong treatment for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), according to court docs reviewed by the Tribune.
Wilson disputed that version of events Friday, alleging that an attorney involved in negotiating the surrogacy agreement warned West she could face a $250,000 fine if she didn’t terminate the pregnancy.
That communication “was to illustrate the level of pressure that the other side went to try to force an abortion here,” Wilson said.
Still, West refused and traveled to Texas, where she would be recognized as the birth mother under state law.
And while Wilson insisted Friday that West “is not in this for the money,” the mother of two previously identified the financial payout as a major reason she entered the surrogacy agreement in the first place.
“I thought [being a surrogate] would be a really awesome way to make extra income for my family, not have to take extra time away from my kids, and get to provide a family the amazing gift of having a child,” West told Live Action News on July 31.
“I felt it would be a rewarding route to take,” she gushed.
But the once-appealing arrangement has since devolved into a legal and financial nightmare, with custody battles and monetary disputes now spanning three states.
“Despite any compensation, [West] has gone through huge personal risk to herself to give birth to this baby and make sure that he gets medical care,” Wilson said.
“But we think it’s outrageous that the other side has sought to enforce the contract where they aren’t even paying money to have it completed – and yet they want all the rights that the contract provides,” he blasted.
Even though a California court has already ruled that Gilkar and Ahmed are, in fact, the baby’s legal parents, Wilson previously told The Post that his team is prepared to take the custody fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
“She is the mother,” he claimed of his client.
Not only is West fighting for custody of the child – she’s also seeking to recover losses from the bitterly disputed custody agreement, which Wilson said amounts to “in excess of tens of thousands of dollars.”
Read the full article here
