Whitmer 'shocked' Republicans opposed surrogacy bills. GOP: They pose 'dangerous pitfalls'

Royal Oak — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed bills into law Monday that make it easier for those wanting to become parents to use pregnancy surrogates and argued the proposals marked a "dividing line" between Democrats and Republicans in Michigan.

At a press conference inside a public library in Royal Oak, Whitmer, the top Democratic officeholder in the state, said she was "shocked" the wide majority of GOP lawmakers in the Legislature opposed the measures.

The bills update Michigan's law on surrogacy and set up a legal framework and minimum standards for surrogacy agreements. They also allow for the arrangements to feature compensation. Previously, such financial deals had been prohibited in Michigan.

"Either you support families or you don't," Whitmer said Monday morning. "It's pretty clear that there is a dividing line here where Democrats are making it easier for people to decide when and whether to start a family and how they pursue starting a family.

"Republicans say no to all of that. And it's incredibly cruel and anti-family."

Only two of the 72 Republicans serving in the state Legislature voted for the main bill in the surrogacy package. Whitmer said she was "grateful" that two Republicans supported the changes. Those two were Sens. Mark Huizenga of Walker and Jon Bumstead of North Muskegon.

Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, defended GOP opposition to the bills in a statement on Monday.

"The legislation may be well intentioned to provide the invaluable gift of life to mothers and fathers, but the Democrat majority ignored dangerous pitfalls of commercialized surrogacy that have been banned in other western countries due to the threat of exploitation of women and human trafficking," Nesbitt said.

Some GOP lawmakers had contended the proposals would leave vulnerable women at risk of exploitation. Sen. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, said in a speech on the Senate floor last month that the legislation "fundamentally redefines the family."

"These bills create whole new paths to parenthood," Albert said at one point.

The proposals set up a standard process for establishing a parent-child relationship for individuals in Michigan who use assisted reproduction methods, including in vitro fertilization.

The anti-abortion group Right to Life of Michigan has also criticized the bills' language, which allows for compensation to go to surrogates.

"Providing payment for services rendered turns the generous acts of being an altruistic surrogate into a money-making proposition which in turn creates a market that can and does exploit poor and vulnerable women," wrote Genevieve Marnon, legislative director for Right to Life of Michigan, in her Senate committee testimony.

But state Rep. Samantha Steckloff, D-Farmington Hills, the lead sponsor of the surrogacy bills, noted on Monday that Michigan had been the only state in the nation with a criminal ban on surrogacy contracts.

"Driving these arrangements underground only serves to put prospective parents and the children they hope to raise in legal jeopardy," Steckloff said.

Steckloff is a breast cancer survivor.

"Due to chemotherapy, I, unfortunately, am unable to conceive naturally. But I was lucky. I was able to put off chemo by one month in order to go through IVF and egg harvesting so that one day, I might be able to have a family of my own," Steckloff said at a committee hearing on March 7.

During the bill signing event on Monday, Stephanie Jones, the founder of the Michigan Fertility Alliance, labeled it a "new day for families in Michigan."

Jones is the mother of two children, one of whom was born via a gestational carrier in Kentucky, according to the alliance.

The new standards provide critical legal protections for children and a clear pathway to secure parental rights for parents who rely on fertility treatments and surrogacy, Jones said.

"Now, no matter how their families are formed, all Michigan children will have access to critical rights, such as health insurance, Social Security and decision-making about critical medical care that flow through the secure legal parent relationship," Jones said.

Michigan became the first state on Monday to update its surrogacy law since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos can be considered children under Alabama law, Jones said.

The legal and political debate about in vitro fertilization, which the Alabama decision ignited, and the ongoing fight over abortion rights loom over this fall's presidential election. Every seat in the Michigan state House will be on the ballot in November.

Democrats in Michigan are making it easier for people to start families, Whitmer said Monday.

"Those who want to strip away our rights and our freedoms will not rest," the governor said. "And neither will we."

cmauger@detroitnews.com