The Elitist Media continue to struggle to report the story of Baby Gabriel, whose very first act of defiance was to be born despite the wishes of his biological parents- thanks to his courageous surrogate mother. NBC took a shot at the story but ended up with the wrong heroes.
Watch the report in its entirety, as aired on NBC Nightly News on Thursday, August 13th, 2026:
WATCH: @NBCNightlyNews casts the bio parents of Baby Gabriel as the purest victims of this fiasco
TOM LLAMAS: And in Texas, a story that is garnering a lot of headlines. A couple’s surrogate is now fighting for custody of the baby boy she carried, arguing she should be given… pic.twitter.com/5ummphFfgu— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 14, 2026
TOM LLAMAS: And in Texas, a story that is garnering a lot of headlines. A couple’s surrogate is now fighting for custody of the baby boy she carried, arguing she should be given parental rights instead of the biological parents who are also fighting for him. Brian Chandler explains what led to this legal battle.
BRIAN CHANDLER: In Dallas, a boy's birth triggering a dramatic custody battle, pitting the baby’s biological parents against the surrogate who carried him. The boy’s California-based parents face a devastating decision after a diagnosis at 20 weeks. They learned the baby, who was being carried by a surrogate from Alaska, had a serious heart condition: Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. They chose to terminate the pregnancy. But gestational carrier McKenna West objected, fleeing to Texas for medical care and legal refuge.
McKENNA WEST: I didn't think that I could live with myself doing that.
CHANDLER: West sharing her story with the anti-abortion organization Live Action. She’s fighting for legal parenthood over the baby she carried to term in Texas.
WEST: I just know that he- he's a fighter and he deserves to be surrounded by people who are 100% willing to fight alongside him.
CHANDLER: The boy was born Wednesday. West is calling him Gabriel, but he’s Rumi to his parents, who want to take him back to California for medical care. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervening to support the surrogate, urging a court to prohibit the child’s removal from the state. The court sided with the state in part, blocking any attempt to transfer the child while prohibiting the gestational carrier from asserting parental rights over him.
Tonight, the biological parents’ attorneys telling NBC News: “As if the heartbreak of his condition were not enough, they are devastated today to see their family tragedy transformed into political theater,” adding: “Our clients’ only focus at this time is ensuring that their baby receives the medical care that he vitally needs and that they as his parents are able to spend every precious moment they can with their beautiful baby son.” Brian Chandler, NBC News, Dallas.
When CBS reported this very story last night, anchor Tony Dokoupil included the fact that Gabriel’s biological parents wanted him aborted up front, in his introduction to the story:
TONY DOKOUPIL: Meanwhile, to Texas now, and a battle over the future of a baby born with a serious heart condition. The California parents of the child wanted to end the pregnancy months ago when they learned of the condition, but their surrogate refused and then went to Texas, where the state has now stepped in. Jason Allen reports.
In Tom Llamas’s intro, Gabriel’s bio parents are simply “fighting for him.” Viewers don’t hear about the abortion demand until correspondent Brian Chandler’s report.
The report then goes on to list the baby’s condition, and the surrogate’s decision to seek safe haven for the baby in Texas. Once again, Live Action is labeled as an “anti-abortion organization,” as opposed to “pro-life” or “right-to-life.” Chandler then casts Attorney General Ken Paxton as a villain for ensuring that Gabriel receives medical care.
It is then that Chandler closes out the report by eliciting sympathy for the bio parents that demanded the baby be aborted in the first place. Now that he’s here, he’s “beautiful.” Chandler amplifies the parents’ message lamenting “their family tragedy transformed into political theater.” There’s a lot of that in this report but no examination as to why the theater began in the first place. And the brave surrogate who saved the baby got about 32 seconds out of a report that ran 2 minutes and 9 seconds.
For those keeping score, CBS and NBC have reported this story. That leaves ABC, who could have reported the story but instead ran 10 minutes of David Muir traipsing through the redwoods. Make of that what you will.
