Kentucky law, and now its lawsuit, say otherwise. Definitely a case to watch.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/09/04/after-state-fair-flyover-kentucky-files-lawsuit-against-abortion-pill-advocacy-group/

After State Fair Flyover, Kentucky Files Lawsuit Against Abortion Pill Advocacy Group

Fred Lucas    |    September 4, 2026

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman sued an organization that promotes mail-order abortion-inducing drugs to women in states where it’s restricted.

Coleman announced the litigation Thursday against Mayday Health, a New York-based activist organization, stating the organization broke state law by advertising illegal mail-order abortion pills.

Last weekend, Mayday Health chartered an airplane that flew over the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville with a banner saying, “Abortion Pills By Mail,” and posted ads at gas stations in Western Kentucky that said, “Pregnant? Don’t want to be? Learn more at Mayday Health.”

“These out of state activists are not only breaking Kentucky law, they seem to delight in rubbing our faces in it,” Coleman, a Republican, said in a public statement. “The State Fair is a beloved Kentucky tradition for families and children to celebrate our Commonwealth. We refuse to allow Mayday to taint our values and put our people at risk.”

In 2022, the Kentucky state Legislature prohibited the mailing or delivery of abortion-inducing drugs in Kentucky.

Further, the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act prohibits deceptive or misleading communications with Kentuckians.

“We look forward to defending our First Amendment-protected work in court and winning, like we have against similar efforts to suppress our speech,” Mayday co-founder Leo Raisner told The Daily Wire. “Abortion pills are safe, effective, and FDA-approved, and everyone deserves access to that information.”

Raisner formerly worked as a content director for President Joe Biden’s Office of Digital Strategy.

Mayday Health directs women to outside providers of the pills through telehealth appointments and mail-forwarding services, but doesn’t distribute the pills itself.

The state’s lawsuit was filed in Logan Circuit Court and details Mayday Health’s violations of Kentucky’s Consumer Protection Act.

The complaint asks the court to order Mayday Health to permanently stop its illegal advertisements and to pay penalties.

Coleman announced a civil investigation into Mayday Health’s advertisements at Western Kentucky gas stations in several counties, including Logan County, where the lawsuit was filed.

This model's concept, pioneered by Scott L. Zeller, MD, takes off from Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul - divide and conquer. No matter who tries to legislate physical/mental health parity, they are very different things in an emergency.

I can only imagine how relieved these ED staff are to be able to focus on heart attacks, overdoses, and traumatic injuries. 

https://www.beckersbehavioralhealth.com/care-coordination/how-1-uk-healthcare-unit-cut-ed-boarding-time-92/

How 1 unit cut UK HealthCare’s ED boarding time 92%

Ella Ruder    |    August 11, 2026

University of Kentucky HealthCare based in Lexington opened an Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing (EmPATH) unit in July 2024 to treat behavioral health patients outside its emergency departments — a design choice that differs from many models nationally.

The unit sits near Eastern State Hospital in Lexington and serves both of UK HealthCare’s EDs, at Good Samaritan Hospital and Chandler Hospital. About 5,000 patients a year come through its doors, and it has treated more than 10,000 people in its first two years — more volume than leaders initially expected, said Marc Woods, DNP, RN, chief nursing officer for Eastern State Hospital, the EmPATH unit and the Good Samaritan behavioral health unit.

The unit follows the EmPATH model developed by Scott Zeller, MD, though Mr. Woods said implementation varies widely by health system. “I think the statement is if you’ve seen one EmPATH, you’ve seen one EmPATH,” he said.

A model built on inclusion

UK HealthCare’s unit accepts patients other crisis programs might turn away, including those who are aggressive or violent, according to Mr. Woods and Lindsey Jasinski, PhD, chief administrative officer and director of psychology services at Eastern State Hospital.

“We use a statement of ‘find a way to say yes to this patient in front of you.’ Finding a way to say yes not just in fancy meetings or report offs — we say it to our staff. Traditionally in behavioral health, that hasn’t been the case,” Mr. Woods said. Dr. Jasinski described the shift as moving to “how do we operate on inclusion criteria,” rather than exclusion criteria.

Despite treating a broader patient population, Dr. Jasinski said restraint use on the unit is below 0.01%. She attributed that to staff building rapport with patients immediately, offering food and drink on arrival, allowing patients to keep their clothes and belongings when safe, and watching closely for signs of escalation throughout a patient’s stay.

The unit also employs peer support specialists — staff with lived experience of mental illness or substance use disorder — a role Mr. Woods said EDs typically lack. He recalled a patient telling him, “You don’t know what I’ve been through. You can’t help me,” before a peer support specialist stepped in and said, “He can’t, but I can, and I’ve been where you are.”

Suicidal ideation is the most common presentation, accounting for almost 60% of patients, according to Mr. Woods. Patients arrive by ambulance, police transport, family, rideshare, bus or on foot, Dr. Jasinski said, and the unit has drawn patients from roughly 30 states, though Mr. Woods attributed some of that reach to Lexington being a college town. If a patient presents at either UK HealthCare ED instead, staff arrange an ambulance transfer to the unit.

The program is built around a 23-hour observation stay. “Our No. 1 goal is that after 23 hours, you leave here with hope,” Dr. Jasinski said. “We’ve turned a crisis into an outpatient appointment.”

Very few patients progress to inpatient admission, Mr. Woods said, which he said helps preserve scarce behavioral health beds for the most acute cases. The unit has expanded capacity since opening with 12 chairs to roughly 20 today.

Fewer repeat visits, more follow-through

Leaders pointed to a decline in frequent ED use among behavioral health patients since the unit opened. In its first six months, Dr. Jasinski said, patients who had previously been coming to the ED an average of 5.5 times every six months were instead returning to the EmPATH unit about twice in six months.

Follow-up appointment attendance has also improved. Before the unit opened, patients discharged from the hospital attended follow-up appointments about 29% of the time, according to Dr. Jasinski; since then, that rate has held at 65% for two years. A community mental health center co-located inside the unit helps patients schedule follow-up care, typically within 24 to 48 hours of discharge, before they leave.

First-year data showed a 63.5% reduction in inpatient admissions and a 92.1% reduction in ED boarding time tied to the unit’s opening. Asked about year two, Dr. Jasinski said those operational gains have held steady, while Mr. Woods said tracking restraint use against ED baselines has been a harder metric to capture consistently.

“Each is a new opportunity for us to reevaluate what that person needs,” she said. “We might start treatment, but the biggest thing that we do is connect them to those resources in the community.”

Kentucky has proposed using CMS rural health transformation dollars to fund additional EmPATH units across the state over the next five years, Dr. Jasinski said, citing the model’s effect on access to care. The unit also arranges transportation home for rural patients who arrive by ambulance but have no way to get back.

Effects on the emergency department

Before the EmPATH unit opened, Good Samaritan’s emergency department relied on four specially secured rooms within its 21-bed unit to hold behavioral health patients, Eric Reid, MD, Medical Director of Good Samaritan emergency department and medical director of EMS, said. The hospital also has a partnership with Eastern State Hospital that could typically move patients within about 12 hours.

Even with that arrangement, those rooms were routinely full during peak evening hours. Since the EmPATH unit opened, Dr. Reid said, it’s now rare for more than one or two patients to need those secured rooms at once, freeing space for other ED patients.

The timeline for behavioral health patients has also shortened: Providers can typically connect with the EmPATH team within about 30 minutes of finishing an ED evaluation, he said. Patients now often receive definitive care within an hour and a half to two hours of arrival — down from a typical three to four hours, and sometimes as long as eight to 10 hours, before the unit existed.

The change required upfront work, Dr. Reid said, including training EMS partners to manage behavioral health patients in transit and coaching ED staff on how to talk with patients about being transported to a separate facility without adding to their anxiety.

He also linked the model to less strain on ED staff.

“We often talk about the moral injury that leads to burnout in the emergency department, where we are trying to do the correct things for patients, but the system logistics around it make it difficult,” Dr. Reid said, adding that the EmPATH unit “is a great way to circumvent that.” He pointed to decreased use of restraints, sedatives and sitters as further evidence the model improved care rather than simply speeding it up. “It’s very satisfying to get these patients the care that they need,” he said.

Dr. Reid said other ED leaders considering a similar model should expect it to require sustained collaboration across disciplines, including standing meetings that bring together community-based providers, hospital staff and outpatient follow-up teams.

“It takes a lot of collaboration and communication,” he said, “but it really has had a great payoff.”

Alternatives to psychiatric residential placement include Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP), Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP), and outpatient care, which allow for varying levels of support while enabling the child to remain at home. These alternatives can provide structured treatment without the need for full residential care.

https://www.beckersbehavioralhealth.com/care-coordination/nevada-cuts-psychiatric-residential-placements-for-children-from-35-to-16/

Nevada cuts psychiatric residential placements for children from 35% to 16%

Ella Ruder    |    August 14, 2026

Nevada reduced the percentage of children with behavioral health disabilities placed in psychiatric residential treatment facilities from 35% to 16% since January 2025, The Nevada Independent reported Aug. 13.

The decline comes as the state works to comply with a five-year settlement agreement with the Department of Justice, signed Jan. 2, 2025, after findings that Nevada violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The state has also invested more than $100 million in children’s behavioral healthcare through Nevada Medicaid.

Here are five things to know:

1. Among youth covered by Nevada Medicaid who are tied to the settlement agreement, 404 youth out of a population of 1,147 were placed in psychiatric residential treatment facilities at 35%, compared with 382 youth out of a population of 2,408 at 16%.

2. In fiscal year 2020, more than 1,700 Nevada children were admitted to psychiatric hospitals and more than 480 children were admitted to psychiatric residential treatment facilities. Children remained in those facilities for an average of nine to 12 months, with about 27% staying more than a year.

3. Nevada is launching a short-term therapeutic home model intended to provide an intermediate, community-based residential treatment option. The goal is for stays to last between one and three months.

4. The state has invested more than $100 million in children’s behavioral healthcare through Nevada Medicaid. The funding will help raise reimbursement rates for rural and in-home therapy services, specialized foster care services and residential psychiatric treatment for children with complex needs.

5. Ann Jensen, administrator of Nevada Medicaid, said a day at a psychiatric residential treatment facility costs the state between $800 to $950 per child. Ms. Jensen said inpatient care for children is more expensive than offering community-based outpatient services.

A semi-retired Clinton judge in Idaho, U.S. District Judge Barry Lynn Winmill, ruled on the 13th that the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides a "narrow" right for a pregnant patient to obtain an abortion if the pregnancy could be a risk to their health, including their mental health. It’s the first ruling since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health in 2022 to find that the U.S. Constitution includes a right to abortion:

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article316882538.html

https://lawyeringproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260813_ID-DENIALS_Ruling.pdf

Judge: Idaho can’t ban abortion when pregnancy threatens a woman’s health
By Nicole Blanchard - August 14, 2026

A federal judge for the District of Idaho has ruled that part of Idaho’s abortion restrictions violate the U.S. Constitution, according to a decision issued Thursday in a case brought by a Boise maternal-fetal medicine specialist.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill wrote in his decision that the 14th Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses “establish a narrow but fundamental right to abortion when a pregnancy threatens the woman’s life or health.”

Dr. Stacy Seyb, who practices at St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, filed the lawsuit against the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office and members of the Idaho Board of Medicine in 2024. Seyb claimed that Idaho’s strict abortion laws prevented him from providing medically necessary abortions to his patients, who are typically experiencing high-risk pregnancies.

A weeklong trial in Boise in June included testimony from Seyb and numerous other OB-GYNs and maternal-fetal medicine specialists who outlined the risks of denying abortion to pregnant patients. Attorneys with the Idaho Attorney General’s Office argued to establish the procedure as “gruesome and barbaric.”

Abortion has been illegal in Idaho in nearly all circumstances since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision in 2022 that essentially overturned Roe v. Wade, triggering bans in some states. Winmill wrote in his decision that Seyb’s case was not an attempt to relitigate that Supreme Court case or the constitutionality of elective abortion.

“It is about a pregnant woman’s ability to seek necessary obstetric care under the most difficult and tragic circumstances,” Winmill wrote. “It is about whether the state may pick and choose which life-threatening conditions can justify an abortion. It is about self-preservation and the limit of the state’s power to make a woman suffer for the sake of an unborn child.”

Winmill found that Idaho cannot criminalize abortions that preserve the health of pregnant women or prevent the death of pregnant women from self-harm. However, he said a third claim from Seyb — regarding pregnancies with severe fetal complications that will likely result in death soon after birth — is constitutional provided the fetal anomaly does not also pose a health risk for the mother.

In a news release from the Lawyering Project, a nonprofit that aims to expand abortion access, Seyb expressed relief at the ruling. Attorneys with the Lawyering Project represented Seyb during the case.

“I have been caring for Idaho patients with high-risk pregnancies for nearly 30 years,” Seyb said. “Today’s ruling allows me to once again offer patients with serious medical conditions the option of ending a pregnancy without leaving the state and to practice medicine without fear of criminal prosecution.”

In an emailed statement, Idaho Republican Attorney General Raúl Labrador said Winmill “did exactly what the Supreme Court rejected in Dobbs: He legislated from the bench and manufactured a new constitutional right to abortion.

“The Supreme Court made clear that abortion policy belongs to the people and their elected representatives, not a single federal judge. Not only did he ignore Dobbs, he compounded that mistake by ignoring clear precedent stating that district judges lack authority to issue universal injunctions.”

The Attorney General’s Office said it will appeal Winmill’s decision “immediately” and is “confident this decision will be overturned.”

Idaho abortion bans unconstitional on maternal health but not fetal anomalies

Wendy Heipt, senior litigation counsel for Legal Voice, which also represented Seyb, called the ruling “a major victory for safe pregnancy in Idaho.” Heipt said doctors will no longer need to delay or deny care to patients out of fear of prosecution.

Under Idaho’s Defense of Life Act and Fetal Heartbeat Preborn Child Protection Act, health care providers who perform illegal abortions face consequences that include loss of license and prison time. During trial, Seyb said he found it “very, very difficult to try to figure out what types of procedures, what situations would not put you into harm’s way” when deciding what circumstances were considered legal abortions.

The AG’s office argued that Seyb had a fundamental misunderstanding of the law, which says abortion is legal when “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.”

Winmill’s decision noted that two previous court cases have attempted to clarify the scope of the “death-of-the-mother exception”: a 2023 Planned Parenthood case that went to the Idaho Supreme Court, and a 2025 Ada County case brought by four Idaho women denied abortions when their health was at risk.

Winmill’s ruling was the most decisive interpretation to date.

“By allowing only life-saving abortions, Idaho’s ban infringes the right of pregnant women to obtain an abortion when necessary to preserve their health,” he wrote. “Idaho does not have a compelling interest in prohibiting obstetric care under these circumstances.”

It’s also the first legal decision to carve out mental health protections when it comes to abortion in Idaho.

Other part of abortion ruling

The judge’s ruling prevents Ada County prosecutors and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office from enforcing state abortion bans when pregnancy poses a risk for a woman’s physical health or when continuing a pregnancy could result in death from self-harm.

However, Winmill found that a challenge to Idaho abortion restrictions based on fetal anomalies did not violate the Constitution. Idaho Attorney General’s Office Division Chief for Civil Litigation and Constitutional Defense Jim Craig, who led the defense during the trial, questioned the ethics of terminating pregnancies when fetuses were diagnosed with conditions such as triploidy, a chromosomal abnormality that frequently results in miscarriage, stillbirth and death.

Winmill said the abortion ban in those instances is rightfully aimed at “preventing abortions based on mistaken fetal diagnoses and affirming the dignity of people with profound disabilities.”

“Some may find the law cruel,” Winmill later wrote in his opinion. “And the Court fully understands and appreciates that sentiment. Pregnant women faced with a devastating fetal diagnosis must either bear the challenges of pregnancy while waiting to watch their child die or flee the state to receive appropriate medical care.”

Winmill appeared to acknowledge the upcoming ballot initiative in the November general election which will allow Idaho voters to decide whether to reinstate widespread abortion access. The judge said that for Idahoans who oppose current laws, “the solution lies at the ballot box rather than the courthouse.”

Winmill also dismissed the Idaho Board of Medicine from the lawsuit, as he said it does not have the capacity to independently enforce the suspension or removal of medical licenses.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/03/us-news/inside-new-yorks-medical-fraud-capital-where-often-empty-senior-centers-bill-medicaid-100m-a-year-for-patients/

Inside New York’s medical fraud capital where often empty senior centers bill Medicaid $100M-a-year for patients
By Chadwick Moore - August 3, 2026

The vibrant, east Asian immigrant enclave of Flushing may be New York’s medical fraud capital.

A one-mile radius of the neighborhood boasts 77 Social Adult Daycares (SADCs), which bill Medicaid over $100 million a year, accounting for 14 percent of all daycare spending in the state, a Post investigation reveals.

When The Post visited some of largest — which are private businesses that have claimed between $20 and 40 million from Medicaid over the last six years — many storefronts were shuttered, and those that were open had empty rooms with no patients.

At Livingwell Day Care on Northern Boulevard, lights were dimmed over rows of empty tables in a mess hall near the entrance. No seniors appeared to be inside, but Livingwell billed Medicaid $27 million from 2018-2024 and had over 26,500 patients, according to federal data.

A man at the front desk refused to answer questions, chased a reporter and cameraman out and threatened to call police. The facility has not been implicated in any crimes.

A woman who identified herself as Wendy, a care worker at Bao Kang Adult Day Care on Blossom Avenue, told The Post she has one or two hundred patients a day, but said “I don’t know” when asked about the $32 million billed to Medicaid for serving 43,900 unique patients during the same years.

Wendy denied The Post a tour, but a security monitor behind her desk displaying common areas showed every single one was empty.

Since The Post’s initial expose on New York’s SADC abuse in January and a federal bust in February saw two men charged with ripping off $120 million over 10 years from Medicaid using two SADCs they owned, workers have been on high alert. Entrances are locked during business hours, while windows are covered in perforated vinyl wrap.

At Merry Adult Day Care on 35th Avenue — which billed $25M from 31,500 patients during the six-year period — a masked worker poked her head out of the door, wouldn’t answer any questions and asked The Post to leave.

Kang Hua on Main Street billed $22 million for 25,800 unique patients; Greater New York Social and Health on Maple Avenue billed $28 million for 32,500 patients; Evergreen Adult Day Care on Roosevelt Avenue took in $32 million for 57,500 patients and Sunrise Senior Service billed a whopping $45 million for 56,800 patients.

None of these facilities have been accused of fraudulent behavior.

However, corruption and kickbacks are the norm, according to those who work in the area.

Medicaid spending data for Merry Adult Day Care Inc., showing $25.34M total Medicaid paid, 453,527 total claims, 31,526 beneficiary records, and a monthly spending trend from 2019 to 2024.

“Seniors come in and ask, ‘Do you have any benefits for me?’” Kenny Chan, owner of a local pharmacy, told The Post, using the local euphemism for illegal kickbacks, where seniors get a small cut of the amount the pharmacy or SADC is billing back to Medicaid.

“I say, no, we don’t do that here. I’ve lost so much business. I’ve had to pull money out of my own pocket to keep the business going.”

To illustrate the point, Chan — who didn’t have a single customer during a 30-minute conversation with The Post — pointed down the street to another pharmacy he claimed was a fraud site.

That tiny storefront was a hive of activity, packed with seniors and three or four workers bustling around with clipboards. Chan said there’s often a line down the block to get in.

“The new pharmacies, the ones that have been here five or 10 years, they offer a lot of ‘benefits.’ About 60 or 70 percent of them have a connection with the daycare centers,” he said. “If I did that, I would be very busy.”

For Chan, it’s not just local grannies who’ve pestered him about joining the hustle. He said daycare workers, other pharmacists and even doctors have approached him asking if he’d like to jump on the gravy train.

“I want them out. I’m waiting for the day they get shut down. It’s not legal. It’s crazy,” he said.

An investigation by The Post found seniors in a typical scheme get $500-$1000 a month in daycare kickbacks while the facility pockets upwards of $3,000 a month per patient.

According to city and federal data, Flushing’s SADCs billed a total of $733M from 2018-2024, the latest year for which spending figures are available.

Confusion about the role of SADCs and what they are there to provide is one of the reasons most people turn a blind eye to them.

While Flushing is home to one of the most elderly populations in the city, the concentration of SADCs is still eyebrow-raising. The neighborhood has a total population of about 250,000 people and 77 city-certified SADCs.

As part of Medicaid’s Managed Long-Term Care (MLTC) program, SADCs are intended to be exclusively for seniors with a “chronic illness or disability” who are “clinically-eligible” for “nursing home level of care,” or experience memory issues like Alzheimer’s disease or require “assistance with physical maneuvering daily living,” such as to eat or bathing, according to the NYS Department of Health.

A spokesperson for the NYC Department of the Aging further clarified, telling The Post: “There are important distinctions. membership is open to all New Yorkers ages 60 and older. serve meals, and in-person and virtual activities are designed to meet the needs of their members.

“SADC’s serve adults with functional impairments and need a higher level of care than can provide.”

However, that was not the case for dozens of SADCs visited by The Post earlier this year, where the facilities were indistinguishable from city-run senior centers, which are not a part of Medicaid.

Healthy, active seniors played ping-pong and mahjong, rode stationary bikes, and got lunch delivered from local restaurants — all on the taxpayers’ dime.

SADC workers, patients and even local politicians who spoke to The Post were unaware of the difference between senior centers and daycares.

Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz told The Post, “Due to a lack of proper state oversight, these centers have become cash cows for criminal syndicates, who use kickbacks and other illegal practices to steal millions from Medicaid.”

New York State Sen. John Liu, who represents Flushing, blamed a lack of city facilities in the district.

“You come to Flushing, you cannot help but see a preponderance of older residents, older Asian residents. And with that concentration, for there to be only one senior center in downtown Flushing, that speaks to the lack of resources, which perhaps all these centers have sprung up in order to fill the void of,” he told The Post. “I think it would be misguided to paint all of these centers with the same brush and to paint Flushing as the epicenter of this kind of fraud, if it exists.”

However, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz blasted New York officials for allowing fraud to fester, where the state’s $115 billion a year Medicaid spend is by far the highest per-person in the nation.

“Due to a lack of proper state oversight, these centers have become cash cows for criminal syndicates, who use kickbacks and other illegal practices to steal millions from Medicaid. When Flushing, Queens, alone accounts for roughly 14% of all social adult daycare spending in New York state, it’s pretty obvious that these centers aren’t popping up solely to fulfill a legitimate need in the community,” he told The Post.

https://nationalpost.com/news/couple-sues-ontario-surrogate-mother-who-refused-to-abort-fetus

Couple sues Ontario surrogate mother who refused to abort fetus
The surrogate said the fetus had a cleft lip and possible genetic abnormalities, but the couple changed tack as it emerged that the birth defect was relatively minor

A Canadian couple is suing the surrogate mother who carried their son, two years after she refused their request to abort the fetus because of a cleft lip and possible genetic abnormalities.

The Ontario-based surrogate insisted that more tests be conducted and eventually the same-sex couple agreed to let the pregnancy continue, as specialists indicated he was a healthy child with a relatively minor birth defect.

But in a suit filed in Ontario Superior Court this May, the parents allege the woman failed to keep them informed about the health of the baby, put the child at risk, caused them emotional distress and violated their confidentiality, all charges the surrogate denies vehemently.

The statement of claim does not specifically mention their request in June 2024 to terminate the pregnancy at 22 weeks. But both the surrogate and the head of the agency that brought them together say the relationship started to sour after the abortion disagreement.

“That’s when everything changed … they wanted a termination,” said Sally Rhoads-Heinrich, owner of Surrogacy in Canada Online and a pioneer in the field.

The National Post is naming neither the surrogate nor the parents of the young child to protect their privacy, but has viewed the parents’ statement of claim, and the letter requesting the abortion.

Jonathan Lancaster, a Toronto-based lawyer for the couple, said he and his clients were declining to comment.

Tension between the parents and surrogate appears to have been exacerbated after the woman insisted on going ahead with a home birth, and later filed a small-claims suit asking the parents to reimburse out-of-pocket expenses. The expenses dispute has gone to arbitration, but in the meantime the couple served the single mother, a corrections officer, with a full-blown civil suit, handled by Faskens, a powerful Bay Street law firm.

Though the suit does not claim a specific amount of damages, she says the plaintiffs have indicated they’re seeking about $600,000.

“You know I’m a single mom, you know I have a daughter, and you’re basically suing me for my house. It seems very s—ty, it’s just awful,” the resident of Ontario’s Muskoka region said in an interview. “I just feel used … They didn’t get the perfect child they wanted and they threw me away.”

For Rhoads-Heinrich, the unusual sequence of events highlights the vulnerable position of Canadian surrogates, who are in high demand but are legally barred from charging commercial fees – unlike counterparts in the U.S. and some other countries. They can only be reimbursed for receipted expenses. Most get pregnant simply to help others but sometimes fail to get their costs paid or are literally left holding the baby when the parents walk away, she said.

“What I find most difficult in this is they are suing the woman who brought their son to them,” said Rhoads-Heinrich. “How is their son going to feel some day if he learns that?”

Complete bans or restrictions on surrogacy in places like Thailand and India have made Canada – where the surrogate’s health-care costs are covered by medicare – a popular destination for would-be parents, she said.

About 100 families are looking for a surrogate here for every one woman willing to provide the service, she estimates.

“The whole world is coming to Canada,” said Rhoads-Heinrich.

She argues surrogates should be able to charge fees – even if it’s a modest amount that’s proscribed by regulation – to ensure they’re fairly treated.

The federal Assisted Reproduction Act is designed in part to protect surrogates and egg donors by making it illegal to commercialize the human-procreation process, noted Juliet Guichon, a bioethics professor at the University of Calgary. But she said the Ontario surrogate’s case underscores that women who give birth for others, sometimes risking their lives, are still vulnerable, noting that the parents appear to be to punishing the woman for allegedly contravening their agreement.

“Moreover, they earlier sought to end the fetus’s life for a medical condition that … can be completely overcome by surgery and therapy,” Guichon added. Based on what she knows about the case, she says, “The question arises as to whether it is in the best interests of the child to be raised by these people.”

The Ontario woman says she became interested in surrogacy after seeing two close friends face barriers getting pregnant. “I work in an awful place. I see the worst humans in the world and it was like something positive.”

After her profile went up on Surrogacy in Canada Online’s website, she said she almost immediately heard from 50 families wanting her services, some of them even sending flowers to her home. Her extensive screening process narrowed the group down until she eventually settled on the same-sex couple and underwent in-vitro fertilization with embryos from a donor egg and each of their sperm.

Their rapport was positive for the first months of the pregnancy, the woman says, but then in late June of 2024 she told them about an ultrasound that indicated the baby had a cleft lip, possibly a cleft palate and a minor heart defect. The surrogate officiates at high-level international wrestling competitions and was in the Dominican Republic for a tournament soon afterward when she received a legalistically worded letter from the “intended parents.”

“Considering that medical tests indicate that the fetus has, or is likely to have, a genetic, chromosomal or other abnormality or defect, and in accordance with article 8.5 (a) of our surrogacy agreement … we want to inform you of our wish that the pregnancy be terminated,” it said. “Although very difficult, this decision is free and informed.”

Away from home in a developing country and lacking in-person supports, the surrogate said she was “devastated” and a “mess” after receiving the unexpected request.

She said she would have agreed to an abortion if the baby had no chance of survival after birth, but was not comfortable terminating a 22-week fetus with what she considered a largely cosmetic defect. She says the parents came to Toronto, where doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital – which specializes in obstetric care – said the baby had no problems beyond the cleft lip and was generally healthy. The parents agreed to go ahead.

Surrogacy consultant Sally Rhoads-Heinrich: “What I find most difficult in this is they are suing the woman who brought their son to them. How is their son going to feel some day if he learns that?”

Canadian law is clear that a pregnant woman has the final say over whether she has an abortion or not, regardless of what others, including a fellow parent, may tell her to do, said Guichon.

More conflict arose when the mother insisted on keeping to the original plan to have the baby delivered in a private home by midwives, not in a hospital as the parents requested because of the cleft lip. The baby had breathing problems on delivery but soon recovered when the midwives administered oxygen, and called an ambulance to take him to hospital, she says.

The parents took the baby home and for the most part cut off communication with the surrogate, she says. She eventually asked them to reimburse her for about $10,000 in outstanding expenses, including lost income from work during the pregnancy, contributions to her pension plan she missed and transportation costs.

When she heard nothing back after repeated requests, she went to small-claims court, only to learn that their contract required such disagreements to be resolved by arbitration. Then came the parents’ own lawsuit, which raised a number of other issues.

It alleges partly that the surrogate failed to keep them abreast of the fetus’s health, put the baby’s health at risk by negligent behaviour and “failing to follow the (parents’) direction regarding decisions affecting the fetus’s medical care.”

The suit also charges she violated their confidentiality and caused serious emotional distress, with one of the parents unable to work from July 2, 2024 – when the woman said she would not have an abortion – until September 2025.

She said in the interview that she was in fact scrupulous about keeping the parents informed on the fetus’s health, never did anything to endanger the unborn child and kept the couple’s identities out of any outside communication about the pregnancy.

Life imprisonment in the German judicial system is a sick joke on victims' families.  This vile bastard will be out in 5 years:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq819jyp2g7o

German doctor jailed for murder of 15 patients and suspected of more
By Bethany Bell - July 8, 2026

A German palliative care doctor has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing 15 of his patients.

A court in Berlin found the 41-year-old man, named only as Johannes M. in line with German privacy rules, guilty of murdering 12 women and 3 men between September 2021 and July 2024.

The authorities believe these killings could be just the tip of the iceberg. Prosecutors are currently investigating dozens of other incidents involving the doctor.

His victims were between the ages of 25 and 94. The court heard how they were all critically ill, but that their deaths were not imminent.

Prosecutors said that during home visits, the doctor administered a lethal combination of various medicines without his patients' consent.

On several occasions, they said he set fires to cover his tracks.

In July 2024, shortly before his arrest, prosecutors said the doctor killed two patients in a single day - a 75-year-old man at his home in central Berlin and, a few hours later, a 76-year-old woman in a neighbouring district.

They said the doctor tried to set fire to the woman's house, but failed.

For much of the trial, which has gone on for about a year, the doctor said nothing. But last month, he confessed to having "killed people," twelve of his severely ill patients.

He told the court he had convinced himself that he was doing the right thing, sparing them "suffering and infirmity".

"Throughout it all, I thought this was the best thing for everyone," he said.

He said he apologised for all the suffering he had caused.

The authorities suspect him of having killed further patients. Prosecutors are currently investigating 76 other cases.

German media say if the further cases are proven, and he is found guilty, it would be one of the largest incidences of serial murder in Germany's history.

The doctor told the court that he would "get involved much earlier in the forthcoming proceedings."

Earlier in the trial, relatives of the victims told the court they still couldn't believe it.

The mother of the youngest victim, a 25-year-old woman who died in 2021, was in tears. "She never said she didn't want to live anymore," she said.

The son of a 72-year-old woman who died in 2024, said his mother had had plans to go to the Baltic Sea with her sister. "My mother wanted to keep on living," he said.

The court ruled that the doctor's guilt was particularly serious. It ordered that the doctor be put in preventive detention, following his prison sentence. It also imposed a lifetime ban on him practising medicine.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5959235-abbott-texas-birth-tourism/

Abbott orders Texas officials to investigate hospital over ‘birth packages’ for foreign nationals
By Sarah Davis - July 8, 2026

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directed state officials on Tuesday to “immediately” launch an investigation into a state hospital for allegedly seeking to profit from “birth tourism” practices.

Abbott said in a letter to Stephanie Muth, the executive commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, that Mission Regional Medical Center has advertised “BIRTH PACKAGES IN SOUTH TEXAS” in foreign countries “in an apparent effort to profit from securing United States citizenship for their children.”

“Birth tourism is an illegal practice that exploits the extraordinary hospitality that the United States and Texas offer to millions of foreign travelers each year,” Abbott said in a statement.

“Thousands of foreign travelers come to the United States under false pretenses to give birth and secure citizenship for their children,” the Texas governor continued. “HHSC must investigate the hospital, a facility it regulates, for any violations of state law and contractual obligations.”

A spokesperson for Mission Regional Medical Center said in a statement that the hospital does “not support or facilitate any unlawful activity” and is committed to complying with “all applicable federal and state laws and regulations.”

“The marketing materials regarding maternity services are no longer in use due to any unintended misunderstanding,” the spokesperson said. “We intend to work cooperatively and transparently with local and state officials. Our focus remains on delivering safe, high-quality care to every patient who seeks our services.”

The public nonprofit hospital operates under the regulation of HHSC and is located just north of the Texas-Mexico border in a city called Mission.

Republicans have raised concerns over “birth tourism” after the Supreme Court ruled last week against the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine birthright citizenship.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller suggested in an interview last week with Fox News’s Jesse Watters that the U.S. could try to limit the entry of foreign pregnant women into the country.

“You have to now think very carefully about who you let into your country, even on a temporary basis, because the possibility, as you said, for birth tourism,” Miller said Tuesday.

“Birth tourism,” or visiting a country with the intent to give birth there, is a rare phenomenon. The Migration Policy Institute found in a report earlier this year that up to 26,000 children born in the U.S. each year could be tied to the practice — less than 1 percent of the more than 3.5 million annual birthrate.

Additionally, immigration experts have pointed out that U.S. Customs and Border Protection already exercises the power to turn away people at the border and would need no new powers to block pregnant women from entering the country.

Abbott ended his letter to HHSC’s executive director by promising to work with the state Legislature “to strengthen state law and eliminate birth tourism in Texas.”

“American citizenship is not for sale and Texas will not permit our healthcare system to be used as a magnet for birth tourism,” the governor wrote.

A spokesperson for HHSC told The Hill on Wednesday that the agency is working “to immediately implement” the governor’s director and that the investigation has been referred to the Texas Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.

https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/case/apr

The People of the State of California v. Heartbeat International & RealOptions

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed a lawsuit against Heartbeat International (HBI) and RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics in California state court. The lawsuit targets HBI’s life-saving work, particularly its activities through the Abortion Pill Rescue© Network—which includes their Abortion Pill Reversal hotline and network of over 1,300 Abortion Pill Reversal providers, clinics, and hospitals.

The State of California’s complaint alleges that HBI and RealOptions are sharing “false or misleading statements,” as well as engaging in “unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent business practices,” for providing information about and access to Abortion Pill Reversal to pregnant women in need. California Attorney General Bonta is seeking a permanent injunction against HBI and RealOptions, to prevent them from sharing their science-based, life-affirming message about the benefits, success, effectiveness, and safety of Abortion Pill Reversal.

Thomas More Society has stepped in to defend both HBI and RealOptions against this frivolous and dangerous lawsuit. Today, more than half of all abortions are done through chemical abortion, or “the abortion pill”—a two- pill regimen that destroys the precious life of an unborn child. Abortion Pill Reversal is a cutting-edge application of a time-tested, FDA-approved treatment used for decades to prevent miscarriage and preterm birth. It involves emergency, ongoing doses of progesterone to counteract the effects of the first abortion pill.

HBI is the first network of pro-life pregnancy resource centers founded in the United States, in 1971. It is now the most expansive network in the world. HBI has over 3,000 affiliated pregnancy help locations including pregnancy help medical clinics (with ultrasound), resource centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies in more than 80 countries worldwide to provide alternatives to abortion. HBI manages the Abortion Pill Rescue Network.

Simply put, women deserve the right to try and save their pregnancies. No woman should ever be forced to complete an abortion she no longer wants. Thomas More Society is proud to stand in defense of Heartbeat International’s critical work on the frontlines of saving mothers and their unborn children on the cusp of abortion.