Same-sex Canadian couple sues surrogate mother who refused to have an abortion

A same-sex Canadian couple is suing the surrogate mother who carried their son after she refused their request to abort the preborn baby over signs of a cleft lip and possible health problems.

The dispute began about two years ago when an ultrasound raised concerns about the unborn child’s health, according to the National Post.

The two men asked the Ontario woman carrying the child to have an abortion at about 22 weeks of pregnancy.

She refused.

The woman said she opposed ending the pregnancy for personal and moral reasons. Later tests suggested the cleft lip posed a far less serious problem than the parents original feared.

The woman gave birth to the child and the couple took him home.

However, the dispute continued after his birth.

The couple filed a lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court in May. They accuse the surrogate of withholding medical information, putting the unborn child at risk, breaking confidentiality rules and causing them emotional distress.

The surrogate denies those claims.

A judge has not ruled on the lawsuit.

The case raises a larger question about whether people who sign surrogacy contracts have legal recourse if the mother refuses an abortion.

Canadian surrogacy agreements may describe how the parties expect to handle health problems during pregnancy. However, a contract cannot force a pregnant woman to have an abortion against her will.

Canadian law also bans commercial surrogacy. A surrogate generally may receive reimbursement for allowed costs, including some pregnancy-related expenses and lost wages, but the law does not allow intended parents to buy a child or pay a woman to carry one.

Still, the Ontario case shows how surrogacy can turn a child into the subject of a contract dispute.

A cleft lip occurs when parts of a baby’s upper lip do not fully join during development. Doctors can often repair it through surgery after birth.

Abortion law

Canada has some of the most liberal abortion laws in the world.

The Canadian Supreme Court struck down the country’s abortion law in 1988. Canada has no federal law limiting abortion by the stage of pregnancy. Medical providers and hospitals may set their own limits, but federal criminal law provides no protection for an unborn child based on gestational age.

Canada also lacks a major pro-life political party with seats in Parliament.

The governing Liberal Party strongly supports abortion and has pledged permanent federal funding for abortion access. The New Democratic Party and Bloc Québécois also strongly support legal abortion.

The Conservative Party allows individual lawmakers to hold pro-life views, but its national leadership has repeatedly said it lacks plans to reopen the abortion debate.

Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada supports abortion limits, but the party does not hold a single seat in Parliament.

Heartlander News previously reported that Bernier called for Canada to prohibit late-term abortions.

“Indeed, as I’ve been saying for years, it’s not true that there are no late-term abortions in Canada, or only a few for serious medical conditions,” Bernier said in a November 2025 post. “It’s time Canada joined the civilized world and banned infanticide.”

Like Canada, the United States also lacks a federal gestational limit on abortion. However, states have more authority to regulate abortion than Canadian provinces.

Heartlander News has also reported strong public support in the United States for at least some abortion limits.

A 2025 Knights of Columbus-Marist poll found 67% of Americans supported a gestational limit and 60% wanted abortion limited to the first three months of pregnancy. The survey also found 82% believed laws could protect mothers and unborn children at the same time.