After surrogate McKenna West went public with her surrogacy experience, it quickly went viral; and somewhere along the way, the facts were muddled by major media outlets and social media "influencers" alike. Live Action News was the first to interview West and publish her story.

This case blew the surrogacy debate wide open, putting pro-abortion advocates in a predicament because West was the woman who was pregnant and, under their arguments, has bodily autonomy and the right to not have an abortion carried out on the baby she is carrying.

Abortion, especially late in pregnancy, carries significant risks to the mother. But there's also the idea that the biological parents didn't "want" this baby. And the pro-abortion argument says a child should not be born unless he is deemed "wanted."

Is it "my baby, my choice" or "my body, my choice?"

The confusion is clear. So, to reframe West as a zero instead of a hero while ignoring the obvious talking-point dilemma, the lies have begun to fly. Let's put them to rest.

Key Takeaways:

• McKenna West acted as a surrogate for a California couple, and though she signed a surrogacy contract, she was led to believe that the chances of being ordered to abort the child were slim.

• At 20 weeks, the baby received a diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), and the biological parents told West to abort. After deep consideration, she refused.

• She researched treatments for HLHS and learned about a high surgical success rate for the condition at Dallas Children's Hospital in Texas, where she then traveled in the hopes that he would survive and get the treatment he needed.

• Now, some pro-abortion sources claim that West fled to Texas to live out a "fantasy," that she "kidnapped" the child, and that she kept the baby from receiving care. None of these claims are true.

The Backstory:

McKenna West had agreed to be a surrogate for a California couple, now revealed as Nasheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed. Everything was going well until the 20-week appointment, at which point it was discovered that the baby had HLHS. It is a serious condition that is fatal if not treated.

Thankfully, there is a protocol for HLHS, which includes a series of three surgeries. Gilkar and Ahmed, however, asked West to abort. She knew that her surrogacy contract stipulated that she would abort if asked; however, after initially speaking to the couple and the surrogacy agency, West was led to believe that being asked to have an abortion would be very unlikely.

She began researching HLHS, and found that doctors in Texas had a 100% success rate in carrying out the first of the three surgeries.

Though — out of fear — she initially agreed to abort, she ultimately changed her mind. She asked the couple to commit to surgery, but they would not.

So she relocated to Texas with her children, aiming to give birth in Texas so the baby could get the care he needed. She also sued for custody, telling Gilkar and Ahmed that if they committed to allowing the surgeries, she would not sue. But they would not commit.

Baby Gabriel/Rumi was born in Texas earlier this month and was immediately taken from West, the only mother he has ever known. He has since had the first surgery and is expected to have the second surgery within a matter of months. Gilkar and Ahmed are in Texas now with him.

The False Claims:

#1: West kept the baby from a 'specialized cardiac team'

The Texas Tribune cited legal documents which claimed that, by going to Texas, West was denying the baby access to "the specialized cardiac team in Los Angeles that will provide the lifelong care" that he needs.

• In reality, West was willing to go to California to give birth as long as the couple committed to the surgery. They would not do so.

• West believed that the best chance at saving the baby's life was to go to Texas, where doctors at Dallas Children's Hospital have achieved a 100% success rate in recent years with the Norwood procedure, the first of the three surgeries necessary to treat HLHS. In fact, Texas Children's is a national leader for treating babies, and was the first center in the Southwest to treat HLHS in utero.

• West also had a friend in Texas with whom she could stay, free of charge.

• She was in no way preventing the baby from receiving care. She was committed to helping him.

#2: West 'kidnapped' an 'embryo'

NowThis Impact shared a clip on Instagram titled, "Surrogate kidnaps couple's embryo for pro-life fantasy," featuring Senior Producer Chelsea Frisbie accusing West of "kidnapping" the "embryo."

"Instead of respecting [the biological parents'] wishes to abort, she kidnapped it," said Frisbie.

• How does one kidnap a "clump of cells" or an "it," as Frisbie so horrifically referred to Gabriel/Rumi? And, in fact, the baby was past 20 weeks — no longer a human embryo, but a human fetus in the second trimester of pregnancy.

Frisbie also said the biological parents talked with their doctors; this is misleading.

• They spoke with the obstetrician on a Friday, ghosted West, and asked for an abortion by Monday. Frisbie said that West went "AWOL with their embryo, and fled from Alaska to Texas... to try to claim parentage since she was the one who gave birth to him."

• This was not West's goal for uprooting her entire life and moving to Texas. She risked financial ruin and her job to move to Texas and protect the baby from the parents who were trying to kill him.

#3: A 'fatal fetal anomaly'

Frisbie also called HLHS a "fatal fetal anomaly."

• This is only true if it is left untreated. Even diabetes is fatal if left untreated.

• To back up her claim, Frisbie stated that the oldest person with HLHS is in their 30s. This is true, but only because the pioneering surgeries that Rumi/Gabriel is receiving did not exist before the 1980s. The babies prior to that, therefore, died.

• These surgeries allowed them to live, and now many of these children are still alive as adults, and have not needed a heart transplant.

• There are still other survivors who have undergone a heart transplant and are still alive. Imagine what will be accomplished to help children with HLHS even more in the next 30 years.

The baby deserved the opportunity to live.

#4: West is not the 'mother'

Frisbie also said West claimed to be the baby's mother, but what she actually said was that "to him, I am his mother."

• This is true because she is the only person that Gabriel/Rumi had bonded with and known for his entire existence until he was taken from her after birth.

• This separation causes an acute stress response that can negatively alter the developing architecture of the infant’s brain and disrupt the mother's neurobiological adaptation.

• Yet the video asks, "How is this fair to Rumi's actual parents?"

• The question shouldn't be about what's "fair" to the adults who wanted a baby, and then rejected the baby for having a health condition. It should be about what is best for Rumi/Gabriel.

Surrogacy treats the natural bonds between humans as interchangeable and transactional.

The Bottom Line:

"For now, the parents are with Rumi enjoying the time they have with him," Frisbie concluded.

This tone seems to imply that this baby is guaranteed to die — as if his continued existence and survival threaten to destroy the entire pro-abortion narrative surrounding children diagnosed in the womb with a complex, or even minor, health condition. Ultimately, it's because they do. It's the same mindset that pro-abortion groups had for baby Chance.

They are disappointed when these babies survive, because their lives are proof that they have been human beings from the moment they were conceived.