Ep 115 How She Made Surrogacy Legal in Michigan: Stephanie Jones's Story

What would you do if a Google search from your hospital bed revealed your only path to motherhood was illegal in your state?

Today Eloise welcomes Stephanie Jones, founder of the Michigan Fertility Alliance and 2024 RESOLVE Hope Award recipient for advocacy. After facing life-threatening pregnancy complications that ended her ability to carry a pregnancy, Stephanie discovered through a Google search from her hospital recovery bed that Michigan banned surrogacy contracts—her only option to grow her family. She leveraged her business expertise as an engineer and company VP to transform this personal crisis into legislative change.

The conversation explores Stephanie's journey from secondary infertility through building the Michigan Fertility Alliance from scratch during the pandemic, culminating in the passage of the Michigan Family Protection Act in 2024. Listeners will gain insights into Michigan's surprising surrogacy history, the complexities of having a surrogate birth in another state during COVID, and how the nine-bill package revolutionized fertility and parentage laws for all Michigan families.

In This Episode:

(00:00) Introduction to Michigan's restrictive surrogacy laws and transformation
(03:01) Stephanie Jones's background and secondary infertility journey
(08:46) The Google search that started it all from hospital recovery bed
(12:39) Michigan's surprising surrogacy history from first to banned
(18:37) Building advocacy during the pandemic while having daughter via surrogate
(20:50) The complicated experience of surrogacy birth in Kentucky during COVID
(26:17) Overcoming challenges to get people to care about fertility issues
(31:53) Balancing business executive role with intensive advocacy work
(34:29) Breaking down the nine-bill Michigan Family Protection Act
(38:21) Introduction to State Strong national coalition for advocacy
(41:29) The urgent need for fertility advocates to act now

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Resources:

Michigan Fertility Alliance: www.michiganfertilityalliance.org
State Strong Coalition: www.statestrong.org
Michigan Family Protection Act Information: www.michigan.gov/familyprotectionact
Stephanie Jones Email: [email protected]
RESOLVE National Infertility Association: www.resolve.org

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