A same-sex couple in Canada are suing the surrogate who carried their son, after she declined to terminate the pregnancy following the discovery of a cleft lip and possible genetic conditions. The couple filed a civil claim against the surrogate in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice two years after the pregnancy, seeking C$600,000 (£318,000) in damages, according to the National Post.
Testing during the pregnancy had revealed the baby had a cleft lip, a possible cleft palate, and a minor heart defect, prompting the couple to ask the surrogate to undergo an abortion. She refused. According to Sally Rhoads-Heinrich, owner of Surrogacy in Canada Online, the agency that matched the couple with the surrogate, the relationship between the two parties broke down entirely once that disagreement emerged. “That’s when everything changed … they wanted a termination,” Rhoads-Heinrich said.
Allegations and a denial
In their statement of claim, the couple alleged the surrogate failed to keep them properly informed about the baby’s health, put the child at risk, caused them emotional distress, and breached their confidentiality. Notably, the statement of claim reportedly makes no reference to the couple’s earlier request that the pregnancy be terminated at 22 weeks. The surrogate, a single mother who works as a corrections officer, has denied all of the allegations and is contesting the lawsuit, which has not yet been tested in court and has resulted in no findings of liability.
Tensions over the birth itself
According to reports, relations between the two parties deteriorated further when the surrogate insisted on a home birth attended by midwives, despite concerns linked to the baby’s cleft lip diagnosis. The child experienced breathing difficulties immediately after birth, but was delivered safely after midwives administered oxygen and called an ambulance to the scene.
A dispute over unpaid expenses
Before the couple’s civil lawsuit was filed, the surrogate had lodged a separate small claims action of her own, seeking C$10,000 to cover out-of-pocket expenses, lost income and pension contributions she says were never reimbursed. It was only after that claim went unanswered that the couple responded with their own civil lawsuit, seeking C$600,000 in damages. Speaking about the case, the surrogate described feeling targeted by the scale of the couple’s claim. “You know I’m a single mom, you know I have a daughter, and you’re basically suing me for my house. It seems very s**ty, it’s just awful,” she said. “I just feel used … They didn’t get the perfect child they wanted and they threw me away.”
What the couple are claiming
According to the lawsuit, one of the two parents was unable to work between 2 July 2024, when the surrogate refused the abortion request, and September 2025. The couple’s claim centres on allegations of emotional distress, financial losses and breaches of the surrogacy agreement. Jonathan Lancaster, the Toronto-based lawyer representing the couple, said his clients were declining to comment on the case. Neither the couple nor the surrogate have been publicly named, and the child was conceived through IVF using a donor egg and sperm from the couple.
Surrogacy law in Canada
Under Canadian law, commercial surrogacy is prohibited, meaning surrogates cannot be paid a fee for carrying a child and may only be reimbursed for eligible pregnancy-related expenses.
