There is a Big Legal Battle Brewing in Texas Over Surrogacy - 8/14/26

The couple told the surrogate mother to abort the child, but she refused. There is a big legal battle brewing in Texas over surrogacy. When an ultrasound at 20 weeks revealed a heart defect, the child's biological parents demanded that McKenna West abort the child in her womb, but she refused. She told Live Action, Nothing was scarier than questioning my own soul and knowing what would happen to this baby boy if I had the abortion. Despite the legal threats, McKenna West gave birth to a baby boy named gabriel just two days ago and now she's fighting for legal custody of the child kudos to pro-life texas attorney general ken paxton for securing an emergency court order to ensure the child would receive life-saving treatment the legal fight continues and catholics continue to warn americans of the exploitive and dangerous moral quagmire of surrogacy arrangements but for now gabriel is alive praise the lord meanwhile over at the loop Pope Leo is urging Catholics to rediscover Sunday as the weekly Easter, and we also have the story about who might replace Caroline Leavitt as White House Press Secretary.

Today is the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan priest who gave up his life to save another prisoner at the Auschwitz death camp during World War II. I'm Josh Mercer, editor of The Loop, taking you behind the headlines. Go to zeal.co for the rest of today's Loop, and while you're at it, subscribe to get The Loop in your inbox every morning.