{"id":881,"date":"2026-07-13T15:11:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=881"},"modified":"2026-07-13T15:11:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:11:24","slug":"same-sex-couple-sues-surrogate-after-she-refuses-to-abort-baby-with-cleft-lip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=881","title":{"rendered":"Same-Sex Couple Sues Surrogate After She Refuses To Abort Baby With Cleft Lip"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A same-sex couple in Canada is suing the single mother they chose to carry their baby after she refused to abort their baby over a prenatal cleft lip diagnosis. <\/p>\n

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The civil suit filed in May reportedly seeks $600,000 in damages and comes just two years after the woman refused the couple\u2019s demands to abort their commissioned child at 22 weeks gestation over a \u201ccleft lip and possible genetic abnormalities.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cleft lip treatment, especially when the repair is initiated shortly after birth, boasts a high success rate and rarely proves fatal. When the intended parents learned their child would likely be born with the lip split due to unjoined tissues, however, they tried to compel the surrogate mother to end the baby\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsidering that medical tests indicate that the fetus has, or is likely to have, a genetic, chromosomal or other abnormality or defect, and in accordance with article 8.5 (a) of our surrogacy agreement \u2026 we want to inform you of our wish that the pregnancy be terminated,\u201d the July 2024 abortion demand obtained by National Post read. \u201cAlthough very difficult, this decision is free and informed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cdevastated\u201d surrogate protested the decision. She noted that while she would permit abortion if the baby boy \u201chad no chance of survival after birth,\u201d she disagreed with ending his life over something cosmetic. It was only after specialists determined the unborn infant had a \u201crelatively minor birth defect\u201d that the intended parents backed off their attempt to force a late-term abortion.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit does not specifically mention the abortion debacle as the reason for legal action. Instead, the couple claims that the woman they paid to carry their child put the baby\u2019s life at risk by insisting on a home birth and \u201cfailing to follow the (parents\u2019) direction regarding decisions affecting the fetus\u2019s medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know I\u2019m a single mom, you know I have a daughter, and you\u2019re basically suing me for my house. It seems very s\u2014ty, it\u2019s just awful,\u201d the Ontario woman told National Post. \u201cI just feel used \u2026 They didn\u2019t get the perfect child they wanted and they threw me away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commercial surrogacy, paying a third-party to carry a child, is strictly outlawed in Canada. \u201cIndirect and disguised payments\u201d such as paying a surrogate mother\u2019s bills or tuition is also illegal. The loophole often touted by rent-a-womb agencies in the Great White North and exploited by customers from countries where surrogacy is more expensive or completely banned permits surrogate mothers to be reimbursed for receipted out-of-pocket pregnancy-related expenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cLawyers, ethicists, fertility clinics, psychologists, agencies all profit from the surrogate mothers\u2019 altruism,\u201d the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation notes. \u201cBecause agencies aren\u2019t allowed to \u2018match\u2019 surrogates with prospective parents, they charge for consulting, referral and support. Parents spend on average, $60,000 to $100,000 per child and that\u2019s without paying the surrogate mother anything but expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same-sex couple and the woman initially hit it off after she chose them over \u201c50 families wanting her services.\u201d The deal was solidified when she agreed to be implanted with one of the men\u2019s embryos created with \u201ca donor egg and each of their sperm.\u201d <\/p>\n

The abortion demand halfway through the pregnancy, however, strained the relationship. When the mother gave birth, the men took the baby home and \u201ccut off communication.\u201d <\/p>\n

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The surrogate allegedly didn\u2019t hear from the couple again until she tried to take them to small claims court to recuperate $10,000 in \u201coutstanding expenses,\u201d \u201clost income from work during the pregnancy,\u201d and \u201ctransportation costs.\u201d The case defaulted to arbitration, per the surrogacy agreement. <\/p>\n

In response, the couple filed the lawsuit formally accusing the woman who carried their son of causing \u201cserious emotional distress\u201d that they claim prevented at least one of the men from working for more than a year from the time of the denied abortion in July 2024.<\/p>\n

Ostracization and irrevocable mental, physical, and emotional distress, while downplayed by the businesses selling surrogacy, are not uncommon following a surrogate birth. Surrogates who spend months nurturing infants in the womb only to part ways at birth have a\u00a0\u201cthree-fold\u00a0risk of developing hypertension and pre-eclampsia\u201d and report\u00a0feeling heightened anxiety. In some cases, they are forced to undergo\u00a0abortions\u00a0of unwanted multiples or babies with defects, resulting in even more negative feelings. <\/p>\n

More prominently and importantly, kids whose womb-made attachment bonds are severed in early childhood are more likely to suffer stresses that result in trauma, physical ailments, and brain structure alterations.<\/p>\n

One ex-surrogate told The Federalist in April 2024 that she would \u201cnever encourage another woman\u201d to gestate someone else\u2019s baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I have a hard time knowing that, in this day and age, the government is turning a blind eye to what\u2019s really going on, which is trafficking under the guise of giving the gift of life to \u2018deserving couple,\u2019\u201d Gloria Ruiz said. <\/p>\n

Surrogacy undoubtedly exploits vulnerable women. But it also denies\u00a0children\u2019s natural rights\u00a0to life, to a mother and father, and to freedom from commodification. In many countries and cases, surrogacy is the reproduction loophole used by\u00a0pedophiles\u00a0and other bad actors to secure access to children.<\/p>\n

Even if a surrogate willingly hands a baby over and everything appears legally airtight, that child will still be the product of an arrangement that considered his rights and needs last. The latest complicated case out of Canada proves to be no different. <\/p>\n

Nowhere in the surrogacy contract or same-sex couple\u2019s subsequent lawsuit is the child\u2019s wellbeing put first. Even the surrogacy consultant cited in the National Post story, a woman whose company believes \u201cevery person has a right to become a parent via third party reproduction,\u201d wondered how the surrogacy dispute would effect the baby boy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I find most difficult in this is they are suing the woman who brought their son to them,\u201d Sally Rhoads-Heinrich, owner of Surrogacy in Canada Online, said. \u201cHow is their son going to feel some day if he learns that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Notorious Wisconsin Clerk Faces State Investigation Again For Election Integrity Mess<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A same-sex couple in Canada is suing the single mother they chose to carry their baby after she refused to abort their baby over a prenatal cleft lip diagnosis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[903],"tags":[1039,669,2795,2796,294,627,2797,2798,295,2799],"class_list":["post-881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medical-ethics","tag-assisted-reproductive-technology","tag-canada","tag-child-trafficking","tag-commercial-surrogacy","tag-ivf","tag-lawsuit","tag-rent-a-womb","tag-same-sex-couples","tag-surrogacy","tag-surrogate"],"yoast_head":"\nSame-Sex Couple Sues Surrogate After She Refuses To Abort Baby With Cleft Lip - Property Transition Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=881\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Same-Sex Couple Sues Surrogate After She Refuses To Abort Baby With Cleft Lip - 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