04-04-2025
Here's what to know about the new Michigan Family Protection Act
The Michigan Family Protection Act went into effect on Tuesday, ending the criminalization of surrogacy in the state.
Rachel Lang's journey to motherhood wasn't easy. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at 26 years old, just nine months after getting married.
"It wouldn't have been safe for me to carry a child. That's when we had decided to explore other options," said Lang.
Those options included surrogacy, where her embryos would be implanted in a gestational carrier in the hopes of having a child. Typically, that step wouldn't have been an issue, except in Michigan.
"It was the only state where it was still a felony, and it was the first state where surrogacy became a felony, and it was the last state for surrogacy to be a felony," said Ginanne Brownell, communications and research director for Michigan Fertility Alliance.
Brownell spent years working to push the nine-bill package that went into effect on April 1, officially repealing a ban that made Michigan the only state in the nation to criminalize surrogacy contracts.
The bill also offers legal protections for families that are created through assisted reproduction, like Lang's, who has waited nearly two years to formally adopt her biological daughter, Delaney.
"Surrogacy now is legal; it can be done in Michigan. Surrogacy can be compensated, and there can be contracts that protect everybody involved in the process," said Brownell.
Lang said they await Delany's new birth certificate with their names on it after her adoption was finalized last week.
With the Family Protection Act officially the law of the land, Lang hopes other hopeful parents have an easier experience welcoming their bundles of joy.
