Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) has signed legislation updating the state’s parentage laws to reflect the many ways families are formed today and equally protect all of the children in them, including those with LGBTQ parents. At least three other states have similar legislation pending—though many others lag behind.
Michigan
Gov. Whitmer signed the bill, which the Legislature passed last month, on April 1. It will go into effect early in 2025. The legislation ensures that children born via assisted reproduction have clear paths to parentage that can be established from the moment of birth, including via a simple, free acknowledgment of parentage form. It also decriminalizes contractual surrogacy and provides clear protections for everyone involved.
Stephanie Jones, executive director of the Michigan Fertility Alliance (MFA), a grassroots organization that has been one of the leading advocates for the legislation, called this “an incredible victory for Michigan families,” explaining, “Hundreds of thousands of Michiganders who want children rely on assisted reproduction to build their families. Whether straight, LGBTQ+, cancer survivors, coupled or not, Michiganders needed a clear law in place to protect all children and parents as well as those who help parents grow their families as surrogates.”
The Need Elsewhere
Naomi Goldberg, executive director of the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) and a lesbian parent living in Michigan, was also the lead author of an extensive 2023 report on LGBTQ parentage laws. She praised the new law in a statement, but also noted that elsewhere, “Many states’ parentage laws are more than 40 years out of date. This leaves too many LGBTQ families navigating complicated and costly systems to safeguard their connections to their children.”
As these maps from MAP show, Michigan is now one of only a small number of states that provides clear and equitable paths to parentage for all children, no matter the circumstances of their birth. Establishing such laws means that children have the security of legal parents who can make healthcare, educational, and other critical decisions for them, and can receive insurance, inheritance, and other benefits. As MAP’s report (on which I consulted) showed, many LGBTQ parents and others forming families via assisted reproduction in other states find that the paths to obtaining or securing parentage ties are still unclear, expensive, humiliating, and lengthy, leaving their children vulnerable.
Courtney Joslin, professor at U.C. Davis School of Law, explained further in a statement:
The nationwide outcry against the Alabama ruling [see more here] showed how crucial IVF and other forms of assisted reproduction are to many people’s family building process. Yet in many states, parentage laws are decades out of date and haven’t kept pace with how families are formed. Critically, that leaves many children born through assisted reproduction—including IVF and surrogacy—without clear legal ties to their parents. When children lack legal relationships with their parents, they are extremely vulnerable; they may not be entitled to child support or to important government protections.
Some states, such as Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, and now Michigan, have recently modernized their parentage laws to account for the many family forms today. Most states, however, are playing catch-up. Only 17 states plus D.C., for example, recognize an intended parent as a legal parent, regardless of marital status, if they consent to the conception of a child born using assisted reproduction, per MAPs data. Only 12 states have laws that explicitly say parents of any gender may establish parentage via an acknowledgment of parentage form (sometimes called a voluntary acknowledgment of parentage), a process required by federal law and traditionally used when a woman gives birth and a man to whom she is not married attests (with her permission) to being the parent of the child.
Who’s Next?
Michigan and several other states that have already updated their laws have built them on the 2017 Uniform Parentage Act (UPA), a model law (which Joslin helped draft) developed by the bipartisan Uniform Law Commission. Among other things, the 2017 UPA ensures that state parentage laws remain constitutional by providing equality and paths to parentage for LGBTQ families. Three states now have legislation pending that is similarly based on the 2017 UPA:
- The Massachusetts Parentage Act (H.1713/S.947) is pending in the legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary with bipartisan support. The bill currently has a deadline of April 30 to have the committee take action on it. Massachusetts, which led the nation in marriage equality, is now the only New England state that has not comprehensively reformed its parentage laws to account for the diversity of family forms today. The powerful testimony of many families last November shows why such reform is urgently needed.
- The Minnesota Pathways to Parentage Act (HF3567/SF3504) was reported out of the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee yesterday. Two weeks ago, it had a hearing in the Senate committee, which laid it over for possible inclusion in the judiciary policy omnibus bill.
- For a sobering reminder of why this legislation is necessary, see this case of a married two-mom couple in Minnesota whose sperm donor is suing for custody of their child.
- The Pennsylvania Uniform Parentage Act (HB 1961) is in the House Judiciary Committee.
Polly Crozier, director of family advocacy at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), said she hopes Michigan can point the way, noting, “Amid efforts to restrict Americans’ reproductive freedom and roll back protections for LGBTQ+ people and their families, the Michigan Family Protection Act is an inspiring example for other states where gaps in parentage laws continue to leave families vulnerable.”
And Jones offered insight on what helped the Michigan legislation succeed—a broad coalition of the many people impacted by it:
This family-focused law came together thanks to the grit and unwavering determination of our grassroots group of parents and other citizens that make up the Michigan Fertility Alliance with the support of family, parenting, reproductive equity, and LGBTQ+ advocates and experts. Families take many forms—and we’re so glad we came together and learned from one another to create a law that will make having children a loving reality for everyone.
Let’s hope that other states follow the example of Michigan and the other states that have already updated their parentage laws so that all children have the legal protections they need to thrive.
- For more on how to secure your parentage as an LGBTQ parent, see “LGBTQ Paths to Parentage Security,” a guide that GLAD and I created, at lgbtqparentage.org.
- To help move the Massachusetts Parentage Act forward, visit the Massachusetts Parentage Act Coalition at massparentage.org.
- To contact your elected officials in Massachusetts, Minnesota, or Pennsylvania about the parentage bills (or to speak with legislators in other states about the need for such legislation), find their contact information at USA.gov.