The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in a high-profile custody dispute involving a 5-week-old child born via surrogacy. Justice Elena Kagan denied an emergency request from the surrogate, McKenna West, who was seeking to halt a California court order recognizing intended parents Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the legal parents of the boy.

The case stems from a dispute that arose after the surrogate refused the California couple’s wishes to have an abortion during the pregnancy. The baby was born in Dallas on August 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe and life-threatening heart condition, and has been receiving intensive medical care. West had argued that under Texas law she should have rights as the mother and claimed the couple might not provide proper life-saving care, while lawyers for the couple maintained that they are fully committed to the child’s medical needs and accused the surrogate of trying to disrupt continuous care. With the Supreme Court declining to step in, previous court decisions favoring the intended parents remain in place.