A California couple in an escalating fight with their surrogate over a newborn with a life-threatening heart defect told a Texas court Tuesday that the child's condition has worsened and they are anguished by attempts to deny them parental rights because they previously wanted an abortion.

"He's our child," Nausheen Gilkar said, wiping away tears on the witness stand.

"She's unstable," Gilkar said of surrogate McKenna West, who was sitting across from her in the Dallas courtroom.