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Michigan has become the latest state to legalize commercial surrogacy, officials announced.
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday signed nine bills that will allow couples to pay a woman to carry and deliver their child.
Previously, those trying to conceive this way were subject to up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine since the ban was imposed in 1988.
Whitmer described the legislation, called the Michigan Family Protection Act, as “a common-sense package” to “protect families born through IVF and ensure LGBTQ plus parents are treated equally.”
Michigan law previously penalized paid surrogacy contracts with up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine, the governor said.
Prominent states have written laws that stipulate that life begins at the moment of fertilization. In Louisiana, the intentional removal or destruction of a human embryo is illegal
Surrogacy involves surrogate mothers fertilizing a man’s sperm or another woman’s eggs through in vitro fertilization (IVF), which has been widely questioned in red states like Alabama.
Previously, the law penalized paid surrogacy contracts with up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine, the governor said.
‘Today’s bills repeal that ban and better protect surrogates, children and parents. “They will make sure that you have the freedom to raise a family without political interference,” Whitmer said.
Additionally, the package will provide regulations on who can be a surrogate and establish a framework for parents of children born through this process.
The bills require surrogates to be at least 21 years old, complete consultations with physical and mental health providers and have independent attorneys.
There are two forms of surrogacy. In the traditional method, a woman is artificially inseminated with the father’s sperm and then carries the baby. In this case, the surrogate mother is the biological mother of the baby.
Meanwhile, gestational surrogacy involves the baby’s parents undergoing IVF. In this process, a woman’s eggs are fertilized by the father’s sperm in a laboratory. Those eggs are then implanted in the surrogate mother’s uterus, allowing her to have the baby.
In this case, the surrogate mother has no genetic ties to the baby.
Gestational surrogacy is the most popular option: around 750 babies are born through this method each year.
Traditional surrogacy is much less common and is only legal in Florida, Virginia, and Washington.
As with IVF, most couples who undergo surrogacy cannot have children biologically. The choice is also common among same-sex couples.
Opponents of surrogacy have argued that the process exploits women by considering them only for their reproductive capacity, and some have compared the process to prostitution.
However, others have argued that it could solve America’s fertility crisis, as birth rates have fallen by as much as a third in some states.
State Rep. Samantha Steckloff, the lead sponsor who introduced the package, said in a news release that the bills establish “the clear legal link between parents and children born in assisted reproduction.”
The ruling comes after the Alabama Supreme Court declared that frozen embryos should have the same rights as children, prompting several clinics to suspend the procedure.
Steckloff said “fertility and reproductive freedoms are under attack” and praised his fellow lawmakers for their work on the package.
“Whether through surrogacy or IVF, ensuring that a legal child relationship exists will give children a greater sense of belonging and education and eliminate any potential confusion around parenthood,” she said.