The legislation was part of a nine-bill package titled the Michigan Family Protection Act. The new laws in Michigan ease the process for couples to obtain legal parental rights over the children created through surrogacy when donor eggs or sperm are used. They will effectively reduce the amount of paperwork and documentation both heterosexual and same-sex couples need.
“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,” Whitmer said after signing the legislation.
“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 governor continued.
“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,” she said.
Michigan lawmakers introduced the package of bills in response to an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that recognized the personhood of preborn children created through IVF at the moment of fertilization. Because the destruction of human embryos is integral to the IVF process, the ruling immediately shut down several IVF clinics in Alabama until Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bipartisan bill to shield clinics from civil and criminal penalties when destroying human embryos.
Amber Roseboom, the president of Right to Life of Michigan, criticized the governor’s package of bills, calling it “a disgraceful election year attempt to mislead voters with the fantasy that IVF, prenatal care, and abortion are at risk in Michigan.”
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