An Alaskan surrogate has traveled to Texas to ask a Dallas court to treat the baby she is carrying for a severe heart defect after a California couple has denied the procedure, according to the Texas Attorney General’s office.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office filed a legal maneuver on Monday to support the surrogate McKenna West, who is asking in a family district court in Dallas County to allow the child to remain in Texas and to get treatment. His office has also sent a letter to UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas to remind them that they are legally obligated to provide medically necessary care to the child.

“Baby Gabriel deserves a chance at life, and I will not allow anyone to unlawfully deny him medically necessary care,” Paxton said in a news release.

McKenna West, a nurse, entered a surrogacy agreement in Alaska with the intended parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed through Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists, LLC, a Connecticut based surrogacy agency. She agreed to the intended parents’ parental rights that recognize that they will make choices relating to the fetus. However, the fetus West is carrying was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome at 20 weeks of pregnancy and the intended parents allegedly asked her to undergo an abortion and has denied the baby undergo treatment when born, according to Paxton’s Monday filing.

West has since traveled to Texas and has asked the Dallas court to recognize her parental right to intervene on medical treatment for the baby. There’s also a pending parentage court case in California, but the details of it are not clear. While Paxton’s office says in the legal filing that the intended parents have refused to consent to surgery, it also says the intended parents want to bring the child back to California after the child is born so they can make treatment decisions under their state’s law.

West, Gilkar, Ahmed and their lawyers have not responded to requests for comment.

Under Texas law, the state can override a parent’s medical decision for a child when it determines intervention is necessary to protect the child’s welfare, according to Paxton’s legal filing.

Paxton’s letter challenges the fundamental purpose of gestational agreements by arguing that it cannot transfer power to any adult — even their parents — to refuse a child’s treatment. “A gestational agreement cannot enlarge parental authority beyond what Texas law permits,” Paxton said. It also says that in an emergency, a physician can provide life-sustaining treatment without a parent’s permission.

According to Paxton’s office, the active legal disputes argue who speaks for the fetus but they do not determine what life saving treatment must be provided to the child.

Anti-abortion group, Texas Alliance for Life applauded Paxton’s move. “We are proud to live in a state where the sanctity of human life is recognized,” Amy O’Donnell, executive director of the group said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Disclosure: UT Southwestern Medical Center has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Texas Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.