Michigan Surrogacy Law

Under Michigan's law, commercial surrogacy is punishable by five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.  Fun eh?  It does allow altruistic surrogacy, however it does not recognize surrogacy contracts. Even if you found a surrogate who agreed to do it for free; if she changed her mind and kept the baby, the courts would side with her in MI, no matter what the contract said.  In fact there was a widely publicized case last year where a MI surrogate kept the twins who weren't even biologically related to her at all because she had some reservations about giving them to the Intended Parents.  It was on the Today Show, Dr.Phil, etc.  That surrogate is downright hated in the online surrogacy community by other surrogates I can tell you that.  She's a whack job, but the MI law was in her favor.

Here's a little background on this outdated, crazy law, taken from MichiganPolicy.com

In the 1980s, surrogacy policy gained national attention when the Baby M case in New Jersey was reported by the media. In 1984, the Stern family hired Mary Beth Whitehead for $10,000 to be artificially inseminated with Mr. Stern's sperm and bear the child for the duration of the pregnancy. After the baby was born, Whitehead changed her mind about giving the Sterns the baby and ran away to Florida with the baby and the $10,000. In 1987, the New Jersey Superior Court took away all parental rights from Whitehead and allowed the baby to be adopted into the Stern family and gave the Stern family full custody rights. A year later the court reversed their decision and "declared the [surrogate] contract unenforceable but allowed the Sterns to retain physical custody of the child." Whitehead received visitation rights back, and the Stern's adoption was voided. This decision "voided all surrogacy contracts on the ground that they conflict with state public policy," but voluntary surrogate agreements are still permitted.

This case started a chain reaction for state legislation and states around the nation began to pass laws regulating surrogate motherhood. "Michigan responded first, making it a felony to arrange surrogate mother contracts for money and imposing a $50,000 fine and five years' imprisonment as punishment for the offense"(Law Encyclopedia).  Michigan has the toughest law in the union, but it is also illegal in New York, New Jersey, Washington, Utah and Arizona.

A lot of people agree that the law in MI needs to change; that it hasn't kept up with advancements in surrogacy agreements and social issues.  In the meantime, we are leaving the state in order to not go to prison.