A California couple’s surrogate who refused their wishes to have an abortion has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a custody dispute over the 4-week-old child, who was born with a serious heart defect. McKenna West filed the emergency appeal Wednesday amid a legal battle over surrogacy and abortion that has won the…
The trial of Lindsay Clancy over the killings of her three young children is driving conversations outside the courtroom about postpartum healthcare — and gaps in the system. Clancy’s defense says she killed her three children after suffering from postpartum psychosis, a severe condition affecting someone’s sense of reality, while the prosecution argued she planned…
A Dallas judge has delayed a custody decision, extending a temporary restraining order another two weeks as the legal fight over custody of a baby with a rare heart defect born to a surrogate continues. The hearing on Tuesday gave the public its clearest look yet at the growing, high-profile fight over surrogacy and abortion. Anti-abortion…
Candice Davis had been pleasantly surprised by the ease of her first pregnancy. Her checkups were always clear, and she had few symptoms — until June 14, 2025, 11 days before her due date. The day started normally, but as the hours passed, Davis began to feel nauseous while sitting by her pool. Eventually, it…
The baby at the center of a dispute between a surrogate and the parents is now in his parents’ custody and receiving care, their lawyer said Thursday. The baby, born Wednesday morning in Texas, has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare heart defect that requires a series of surgeries, the first typically happening in the…
When Sarah and Michael Oliveri went to their 20-week ultrasound for their third pregnancy, they thought to knew what to expect. Their previous visit had been stressful — doctors had detected an abnormality at 16 weeks — but a blood test came back clear. They believed the 20-week scan, taken in August 2024, would continue…
A fetus with a rare heart defect being carried by a surrogate from Alaska must receive lifesaving care after birth, a Texas court ruled Tuesday after state Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened in the case. The surrogate, McKenna West, was about 20 weeks pregnant when the fetus was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a…
In this web exclusive, Dr. Stephen Patrick, a newborn ICU doctor and researcher on how the opioid crisis affects pregnant women and infants, talks with CBS News’ Erin Moriarty about what happens after a mother tests positive for a substance during pregnancy. Patrick argues that automatically referring mothers to child welfare or law enforcement over…
This report is published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Giving birth to her fourth child in January of 2021 was life-changing, says Nicole Hamann, but not in the way she ever imagined. While still at the hospital, Hamann was informed that both she and…
Authorities in northwestern Colombia said they rescued a newborn hippopotamus found alone by fishermen on the banks of a river and showing signs of malnutrition. Colombia has around 200 so-called “cocaine hippos” living in the wild, according to the Environment Ministry, all of which descended from a colony brought to South America by slain cocaine kingpin…
