LANSING — After Republican-backed efforts to ban IVF took effect in Alabama, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Democratic-led legislature worked to ensure Michiganders had their rights to reproductive freedom protected.
The Michigan Family Protection Act, 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 the 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- Change outdated state law to treat LGBTQ+ families equally and eliminate the need for them to go through a costly and invasive process to get documentation confirming their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, these bills help ensure 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.
“Decisions about if, when, and how to have a child should be left to a family, their doctor, and those they love and trust, not politicians,” said Governor Whitmer. “If we want more people and families to ‘make it’ in Michigan, we need to support them with the resources they need to make these deeply personal, life-changing choices. The Michigan Family Protection Act takes commonsense, long-overdue action to repeal Michigan’s ban on surrogacy, protect families formed by IVF, and ensure LGBTQ+ parents are treated equally. Your family’s decisions should be up to you, and my legislative partners and I will keep fighting like hell to protect reproductive freedom in Michigan and make our state the best place to start, raise, and grow your family.”
At a bill signing, Whitmer was surrounded by families who supported the common sense legislation. Many of those present spoke about their support for the bill package.
“I am so pleased to see the passage of the Michigan Family Protection Act,” said Jill Rudnitzky Brand, the first child born through gestational surrogacy. “When I was born in 1986, luckily, a judge ruled that my parents were legally my parents from birth. However, since 1988, that has not been the case for Michigan families. I am happy that those going through surrogacy in the state no longer have to worry about the whims of a judge’s ruling around whose names should be on the child’s birth certificate. I am glad to see the antiquated 1988 law scrapped once and for all.”
