Toronto, November 12, 2025 – On October 20, 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) and the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers (CABL)’s joint motion for leave to intervene in Sophia Hemmings, by her Litigation Guardian, Rosalie Brown, et al. v. Lloyd Gregory Padmore, et al. This case raises an important question: how should the law recognize and address discrimination against Black women when doctors fail to provide proper care during pregnancy?
Ms. Hemmings, a Black woman in her late twenties who is fat, suffered a severe brain injury after going into cardiac arrest during a caesarean section. She sued several health care practitioners for negligence, including her obstetrician Dr. Padmore. During an appointment with Dr. Padmore, Ms. Hemmings requested assistance with family planning because she did not want to be pregnant. It turned out that Ms. Hemmings was pregnant, but Dr. Padmore did not give her options about termination nor advise her about the risks, given her weight, of carrying the baby to term.
At trial, the Court found Dr. Padmore liable for negligence. The Court determined that had Ms. Hemmings been informed of the risks and option to terminate, she would have done so. If she had ended her pregnancy, she would not have gone into labour or suffered the brain injury caused by cardiac arrest.
The Ontario Court of Appeal disagreed that Dr. Padmore’s actions caused Ms. Hemmings’ injury, and overturned the judgment finding Dr. Padmore liable for negligence. Ms. Hemmings is now appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada.
As an intervener in this case, LEAF aimed to highlight how systemic racism limits racialized women’s ability to give informed consent and exercise autonomy and agency in healthcare.
“Courts considering medical negligence claims brought by Black women must consider the combined experience of misogyny and anti-Black racism that Black women face when receiving medical care,” says Ruth Goba, LEAF’s Executive Director. “Discrimination against Black women, known as misogynoir, is pervasive throughout the healthcare system – and is especially prevalent in reproductive healthcare.”
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court denied LEAF and CABL’s motion. Interveners are not permitted to raise new issues; in the Court’s view, the issue of anti-Black racism in healthcare was not already raised in the case. It therefore could not allow LEAF and CABL’s intervention.
LEAF is deeply disappointed with this decision. We disagree that our submission raised a “new issue”. Gender and Blackness are integral to understanding how informed consent operates when Black women receive medical care. The Court’s refusal to recognize this reality ignores how racism and misogyny intersect in the medical system, shaping the very negligence at the heart of this case.
Despite this setback, LEAF will continue to carefully monitor the Hemmings case and advocate for the consideration of misogynoir in reproductive healthcare.
LEAF thanks Atrisha Lewis and Priscilla Amoh (Lewis Litigation) and Annamaria Enenajor (Ruby Shiller Enenajor) for their work representing LEAF. LEAF is also grateful to the members of the case committee who helped shape the intervention: Maria Damiano, Roxanne Mykitiuk, Erin Nelson, and Oluwabukola Salami.
About the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is a national not-for-profit that works to advance the equality rights of women, girls, trans, and non-binary people in Canada through litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Since 1985, LEAF has intervened in more than 140 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To find out more, visit www.leaf.ca.
