Toronto couple say Trump birthright citizenship law cost them their surrogate pregnancy

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Many such clients are now pivoting to Canada – where surrogates can’t charge commercial fees and the costs for parents are much lower – but the pool of “gestational carriers” here is way too small to meet the demand, said Rhoads-Heinrich.

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White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis did not respond to questions about the surrogacy situation, but repeated an earlier criticism of the recent judgment halting the executive order.

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“This is just another ruling from an activist judge appointed by Biden attempting to thwart President Trump’s commonsense agenda,” she said.

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American surrogacy agencies contacted by the National Post did not respond to requests for comment.

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Most U.S. states allow commercial surrogacy, meaning more women become surrogates there and the wait time for parents who can afford to “match” with one is in the months, not years as in Canada.

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The recent trouble essentially began in January 2025 when Trump tried to curb the right of any baby born in the U.S. to citizenship. The country’s Supreme Court overturned the policy this June, noting that the right is enshrined in the 14th amendment of the U.S. constitution.

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That decision prompted the administration to issue the new orders on Aug. 6. One said that several categories of babies – including those born to surrogates for international clients – would be denied passports and other citizenship documents. Another said parents who were engaging in “birth tourism” by having a baby in the States just to win the child citizenship could be refused entry.

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Tifany Markee, a lawyer who advises U.S. surrogacy agencies, said she has yet to hear of any newborn being refused a passport. But if that were to happen, the orders would make getting out of the U.S. much more difficult, likely forcing the parents to obtain a passport from their own nation for a child born in the States, and requiring American agencies to engage with unfamiliar foreign laws, said Markee, of Kansas City-based Foster and Bloom Family Formation Law Group.

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As a result, several have proactively chosen to at least temporarily halt their international surrogacies, she confirmed.

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“It makes travel more complicated,” said Markee of the orders’ potential impact. “Fundamentally, that’s what these families care about more than anything. It’s not really about the citizenship. It’s about their ability to then travel out of the U.S. and come home.”

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That 2024 study suggested that 32 per cent of surrogacy clients in the States are from out of the country, about 41 per cent of those from China, followed by France and Spain at nine per cent each, with Canada also a significant source of intended parents.

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Meanwhile, Renee’s hopes have recently been raised again. Another American agency told the couple it is willing to take them on and match them with a surrogate, despite the upheaval around Trump’s policy.

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They turned to the U.S. in the first place after years of fertility treatments and medical complications in Toronto, then being told by Canadian surrogacy agencies that the average wait time was more than three years and could be as long as six. With both husband and wife now middle-aged and their parents aging, they decided time was of the essence and were fortunate enough to be able to go the more expensive American route.

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But even if the episode does end happily for the couple, Renee has a beef with Canadian law in the area. Surrogates here can only ask for their receipted expenses to be repaid, a requirement of legislation that seeks to keep “assisted human reproduction” non-commercial.