A recent lawsuit filed in Canada against a surrogate who refused to abort the unborn child she was carrying should serve as a wake-up call about the extremes of both surrogacy and abortion, a pro-life advocate told the Catholic Herald.
In June 2024, a woman in Ontario was serving as a gestational carrier for a same-sex couple when an ultrasound revealed that the unborn child she was carrying had a cleft lip and possibly other abnormalities. The couple requested that the woman undergo an abortion at 22 weeks, which she refused.
After further tests showed the birth defects would be “relatively minor,” the couple agreed to continue with the pregnancy. The child needed breathing assistance after birth, but otherwise recovered, said the National Post, a Canadian newspaper that reported on the lawsuit.
In May 2026, the same-sex “intended parents” of the child filed suit in Ontario Superior Court against the surrogate, saying that her actions “caused serious emotional distress,” violated confidentiality, that she did not keep them informed about the health of the child, and put the child at risk.
The couple is reportedly seeking about $600,000 in damages. The surrogate denies doing anything to put the health of the child at risk, and told the National Post that their previously friendly relationship dramatically changed after she refused to have an abortion.
“I just feel used … They didn’t get the perfect child they wanted and they threw me away,” the surrogate told National Post.
A pro-life advocate said this case is an example of the downsides and dangers of surrogacy.
“This story exposes why surrogacy, which objectifies women's bodies and treats children as products to be purchased, is fundamentally exploitative and must be vehemently opposed,” Josie Luetke, director of education & advocacy at Campaign Life Coalition, told the Catholic Herald. Campaign Life Coalition is a pro-life organization based in Canada.
Presently, commercial surrogacy is illegal in Canada, but “altruistic” surrogacy, where the carrier is not paid, is legal.
“With growing infertility and a rise in homosexuality, we expect increasing pressure to commercialize surrogacy in Canada. It ought to be criminalized instead, to protect both women and children,” said Luetke.
And while this specific example is making headlines, abortion in Canada is permitted throughout the entirety of a pregnancy for any reason at all, said Luetke.
“The reality of Canada having zero legal protection for the pre-born is that thousands of babies are killed every year for being ‘less than perfect,’” she said. “Our tax dollars are funding eugenics.”
