A Canadian same-sex couple is suing the woman who carried their now 2-year-old son because she refused their demand to abort the fetus because of a minor birth defect and a cleft lip.
According to the suit, filed in Ontario Superior Court in May and obtained by the National Post, the parents claim the surrogate didn’t adequately keep them informed about the baby’s health, put the child at risk, violated confidentiality and caused them emotional distress.
The exact dollar figure was not mentioned in the filing, but the mother, whom the outlet does not name, said the couple has indicated they’re seeking around $600,000.
“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 told the outlet.
“I just feel used … They didn’t get the perfect child they wanted and they threw me away.”
Unlike the US, where pay for surrogate mothers can exceed $100,000, Canadian surrogates are only reimbursed for receipted expenses they incur in bringing the pregnancy to term.
The woman shared that once she decided to become a surrogate and her profile was posted on Surrogacy in Canada Online’s website, she was inundated by dozens of prospective families, some of whom even sent her flowers.
She ultimately decided on the same-sex couple and had in-vitro fertilization using embryos from a donor egg and both of their sperm.
The relationship started off strong, but soured in June 2024 when she told the couple about an ultrasound revealing the baby had a cleft lip, possibly a cleft palate, and a minor heart defect.
She received a response from the couple asking that she terminate the pregnancy while she was in the Dominican Republic to officiate a wrestling tournament, leaving her “devastated.”
“Considering 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 … we want to inform you of our wish that the pregnancy be terminated,” the missive read.
“Although very difficult, this decision is free and informed.”
The surrogate said she would have agreed to an abortion if the child was unlikely to survive after birth, but would not abort a 22-week-old fetus for what she felt was a largely cosmetic birth defect.
The parents agreed to proceed with the pregnancy after doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital said the baby was generally healthy and had no major problems beyond the cleft lip.
But tensions flared again between the surrogate and the parents when she insisted on a home birth performed by midwives rather than in a hospital, as the parents requested due to the cleft lip.
The child had breathing difficulties during delivery but recovered when he was given oxygen, and that an ambulance was summoned to take him to the hospital, the report said.
After their child got treatment, the parents took the child home and ceased contact with the surrogate, who asked them to cover around $10,000 in outstanding expenses, lost wages, transportation costs and skipped contributions to her pension plan.
The parents ignored her, leading her to take them to small-claims court, where she learned her contract required arbitration to settle any such disputes. She was then slapped with the lawsuit.
Sally Rhoads-Heinrich, owner of Surrogacy in Canada Online, said the episode highlights why greater legal protections are needed for surrogate mothers in the country.
“What I find most difficult in this is they are suing the woman who brought their son to them,” she told the outlet. “How is their son going to feel some day if he learns that?”
Bioethics professor at the University of Calgary Juliet Guichon said the parents appeared to be punishing the woman, and that their demanding an abortion under the circumstances raises additional questions.
“Moreover, they earlier sought to end the fetus’s life for a medical condition that … can be completely overcome by surgery and therapy,” Guichon told the outlet.
“The question arises as to whether it is in the best interests of the child to be raised by these people.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
