A Canadian couple’s efforts to have a child through surrogacy faced a major setback following a U.S. executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to international parents. Renee, a Toronto lawyer who requested partial anonymity, and her husband had spent over a decade trying to start a family, including multiple unsuccessful fertility treatments and medical complications. In April, an American surrogacy agency found a surrogate willing to carry their child, and the surrogate even traveled to Toronto to meet them. However, four months later, the couple’s hopes were dashed when the Trump administration implemented new restrictions on issuing U.S. passports to babies born to U.S. surrogates for foreign clients.

The executive order, issued in August 2026, prohibits American officials from providing passports and citizenship documents to children born to surrogates engaged by international intended parents. These documents are essential for parents to travel with their newborns and bring them home. In addition, separate measures bar from entering the United States any parents judged to be involved in “birth tourism,” where childbirth is sought primarily for citizenship purposes. The announcement led several surrogacy agencies to suspend their international services, leaving many intended parents in limbo.

The agency Renee and her husband had contracted refunded their substantial fee but described the reimbursement as a financial loss for their business. “It’s certainly been a setback,” Renee said, “but we have quite a bit of practice in accepting bad news.” The challenges faced by the couple are not isolated; Sally Rhoads-Heinrich, head of Surrogacy in Canada Online, reported that more than 100 prospective parents from Canada and other countries contacted her in recent weeks after the U.S. restrictions disrupted their surrogacy plans. She noted that some agencies reimbursed fees that can exceed $200,000 and warned that the new rules, combined with some American states banning international surrogacy, could severely damage the U.S. surrogacy market, which relies heavily on foreign clients.

A 2024 study by Emory University estimated that nearly a third of surrogacy arrangements in the United States involve parents from abroad, with significant numbers from China, France, Spain, and Canada. Many international clients have begun exploring surrogacy options in Canada, where commercial surrogacy is prohibited and only reasonable expenses can be reimbursed, resulting in lower costs but a much smaller pool of available surrogates. Rhoads-Heinrich emphasized that this limited supply cannot meet the rising demand from international intended parents.

Legal experts acknowledge ongoing uncertainties regarding the enforcement of these rules. Tiffany Markee, a lawyer specializing in surrogacy law, has yet to hear of any newborn being denied a U.S. passport under the new policy but cautioned that such occurrences would complicate travel significantly. Parents would likely need to secure travel documents for their children from their home countries, complicating arrangements for American agencies and forcing some to halt international surrogacy services temporarily.

The legal controversy began in January 2025 when former President Donald Trump first sought to curtail automatic U.S. citizenship for children born on American soil. This policy was overturned by the Supreme Court in June 2026, which cited the 14th Amendment as providing a constitutional right to birthright citizenship. The administration’s subsequent executive orders in August sought to enforce alternative measures targeting passports and entry permissions.

Meanwhile, Renee and her husband recently received an offer from another U.S. agency willing to proceed despite the regulatory challenges. Their initial choice to pursue surrogacy in the United States was driven by long wait times in Canada, where surrogacy clinics estimate waits up to six years. As middle-aged prospective parents with aging relatives, they felt the need to act quickly and were prepared to pay more for an American surrogate.

Renee expressed frustration with Canadian surrogacy laws that allow only reimbursement of expenses, arguing that commercial payment would increase the number of willing surrogates and better compensate them for their role. “Our government has what I think is a very archaic and antiquated way of viewing this issue,” she said, advocating for a regulated system that would fairly compensate surrogates without exploitation. Her comments highlight ongoing debate over the balance between ethical considerations and access to surrogacy services amid shifting international policies.