A Californian couple is suing a surrogate mother for $100,000 in damages after she refused to abort the child she was carrying for them, following the discovery of a serious heart condition.

The Los Angeles based couple had contracted McKenna West, a nurse in Alaska, to carry the child for them under a surrogacy contract worth $60,000

The agreement contained an abortion clause if complications arose during the pregnancy.

At approximately 20 weeks, the child was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart does not develop properly.

Following the diagnosis, the commissioning couple asked West to have an abortion. She refused and subsequently travelled to Texas so she could give birth in a hospital that provides expert care for the child’s condition.

The couple are now seeking more than $100,000 from West for allegedly breaching their agreement. They are also pursuing unspecified additional damages over what their lawsuit describes as her “malicious, outrageous conduct.”

A custody dispute has also arisen between the so-called “intended parents” who commissioned the surrogacy, and the nurse who carried and gave birth to the child.