LANSING — A package of bills designed to protect the rights of families was introduced in the Michigan State House. The bills come on the heels of a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court that ruled fertilized eggs in freezers are humans with rights thus threatening the ability of families across the United States to conceive via IVF.
The Michigan Family Protection Act is comprised of nine bills—House Bills 5207 through 5215. Together, these bills support parents, children born through surrogacy or IVF, and LGBTQ+ parents who deserve to be treated equally. Specifically, the bills will:
- Legalize and regulate surrogacy, allowing Michiganders to have children in an environment that protects the children, the parents, and the surrogates.
- Align with best practices by ensuring that individuals who serve as surrogates are fairly compensated, have their own legal representation, and are screened by medical professionals before entering into an agreement.
- Ensure children born by surrogacy and assisted reproductive technology (including IVF) are treated equally under the law.
- Change outdated state law to treat LGBTQ+ families equally and eliminate the need for them to go through a costly and invasive process to get documentation confirming their parental status. Even if they move to a state that does not respect these basic rights, they cannot be denied their relationship to their child.
- Make it easier and cheaper for all Michigan families to get formal recognition of their parental relationship to their children.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued the following statement upon the introduction of the bill package, “Decisions about if, when, and how to have a child are deeply personal. Politicians should not be dictating the terms of these private decisions that should be left to a family, their doctor, and those they love and trust. The Michigan Family Protection Act makes several commonsense, long overdue changes to remove criminal prohibitions on surrogacy, protect families formed by IVF, and ensure LGBTQ+ parents are treated equally. These changes will support parents in Michigan and guarantee that every child is treated equally and protected by the law, no matter how their parent chose to start a family,” said Governor Whitmer.
The bills in the Michigan Family Protection Act and their sponsors are below:
- HB 5207, sponsored by state Rep. Samantha Steckloff (D-Farmington Hills)
- HB 5208, sponsored by state Rep. Christine Morse (D-Texas Township)
- HB 5209, sponsored by state Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi)
- HB 5210, sponsored by state Rep. Jason Hoskins (D-Southfield)
- HB 5211, sponsored by state Rep. Jennifer Conlin (D-Ann Arbor Township)
- HB 5212, sponsored by state Rep. Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor)
- HB 5213, sponsored by state Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing)
- HB 5214, sponsored by state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia)
- HB 5215, sponsored by state Rep. Amos O’Neal (D-Saginaw)
The Office of the Governor summarized the attacks on families since the 2022 Dobbs ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that ruled Roe v. Wade was unconstitutional. The Dobbs decision marked the first time in American history that the U.S. Supreme Court used its power to take away rights from individual citizens.
From a release issued by the Governor’s office:
In 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, taking away the constitutional right to abortion that American women had for half a century. Many states either passed or had preexisting bans on abortion that went into effect. Michigan had a pre-existing law on the books banning abortion without exceptions for rape or incest and criminalizing nurses and doctors for providing reproductive health care.
In November 2022, Michiganders voted overwhelmingly to pass Proposal 3, which enshrined the right to reproductive freedom in the Michigan constitution. This action protected the right to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion, miscarriage management, and infertility in the Michigan constitution.
Since then, attacks on reproductive freedom have continued. Last month, Right to Life Michigan filed a lawsuit challenging Proposal 3, threatening access to IVF, prenatal care, and other reproductive health care.
More recently, the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling to take IVF away from families put this procedure used by millions of Americans to have children every year at risk. There have been bills introduced in over a dozen other states and at the federal level that would ban IVF.
“While other states make it harder for you to start a family, we are making it easier in Michigan by expanding options for pregnancy, improving maternal and reproductive health care, and investing in the kitchen-table issues that lower the cost of raising a child, such as free pre-K and free school breakfast and lunch. I look forward to reviewing and then signing the Michigan Family Protection Act when it reaches my desk. I will continue working closely with my partners in the Michigan Legislature to make our state the best place to start, raise, and grow your family,” Whitmer concluded.
