Canadian surrogate mothers refusing to carry Israeli babies
Two Canadian agencies that find surrogate mothers say none of their candidates will work with any of their many Israeli clients
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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long since spilled over into Canadian society, with regular street protests, encampments on university campuses and a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents.
But one of the most unusual fallouts from the Gaza war is unfolding quietly in the rarefied world of so-called third-party parenting.
At least two Canadian agencies that help individuals and couples find surrogate mothers to carry their prospective children say none of their surrogates will work with any of their many Israeli clients.
Some of the women object to Israel’s invasion of the Gaza strip, which has left tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children dead — after Hamas fighters murdered 1,200 Israelis, and kidnapped hundreds more, in the October 7 attacks last year.
Others say they don’t oppose matching with Israeli individuals, but worry about sending the baby they birthed back to a region wracked by violence. And a few surrogates fear personal blowback if it became known they were gestating a baby for an Israeli.
“We very much have seen an impact from the conflict between Israel and Palestine, with how these clients are being affected here in Canada,” said Jacki Lebert, CEO of Ontario’s Platinum Surrogacy.
“There are surrogates who feel that carrying for an Israeli would be supporting genocide … More frequently than that is the fear (of harm to the parents or baby or reprisals for them).”
Lebert said the agency deals with as many as 100 separate clients from Israel in a given year. While she personally believes Israelis should be able to access the service in Canada, she says she legally cannot pressure a surrogate to “match” with a particular person.
