Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) on Monday signed legislation to end Michigan’s ban on paid surrogacy agreements — the only state with such a prohibition in place.
“In Michigan, we're making it easier to start a family and to raise a family,” Whitmer said at a news conference before signing the Michigan Family Protection Act into law.
Michigan had banned paid surrogacy agreements since 1988. While parental surrogacy continued in the state, parents and surrogates testified at the state capitol that the legal ban on surrogacy — someone carrying a pregnancy for another family, such as one that cannot get pregnant on their own — sometimes resulted in parents being forced to go through lengthy adoption proceedings for their own biological children.
In signing the legislation, Whitmer — who has made protecting reproductive rights in the swing state a major part of her governorship — highlighted the need to secure reproductive rights that were previously taken for granted, such as in vitro fertilization and contraception.
“As we saw with the Roe precedent fall, nothing is settled,” she said. “We know that a change in power at the national level could lead to an abortion ban, outlaw IVF, criminalize birth control and more. Other states are giving away the game.”
“In the years since the overturn of Roe, [GOP lawmakers have] gotten bolder. In Texas, lawmakers banned abortions and zero exceptions for rape or incest,” she continued. “Earlier this month, Arizona blocked a proposal to protect birth control. Last month in Alabama, the Supreme Court placed IVF in jeopardy. And just last week, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in a case to ban mifepristone, a common abortion and miscarriage drug.”
“Some said we'd never be in a place where IVF, surrogacy and contraception would be threatened, let alone abortion. But that's exactly where we are right now in this country.”
