The below content is an excerpt from an interview. The views expressed are those of the individual being interviewed. By sharing this post, the Mid-Michigan Moms team is not expressing an opinion one way or the other. We are simply sharing one mom’s journey and passion surrounding her experience with infertility.
The Mid-Michigan Moms team connects with many women who have suffered through infertility. Infertility is real. According to the Center for Disease Control, infertility affects more than 15% of women, aged 15-49. Each woman who has hoped and suffered throughout the process has her story to share – and each story seems to have the common thread of guilt and shame couched somewhere within. It is our aim to dispel these notions. As such, we are shining a spotlight on women within our community who have battled infertility.
Recently, we had the chance to connect with Stephanie Jones, local mom, and founder of Michigan Fertility Alliance (MFA). Stephanie is the mother of two children, one of whom was born via a gestational carrier in Kentucky in June 2020. Stephanie’s journey involves surrogacy and led her to found and champion MFA, a cause to change the current surrogacy laws in Michigan. Below, we share an excerpt from her interview with the MFA’s Advocacy Team Oral Historian, Parker Kehrig.
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Kehrig: Why did you start the Michigan Fertility Alliance?
Jones: I founded Michigan fertility Alliance out of pure necessity. In 2018, when my husband and I knew surrogacy was our only option to expand our family, we were completely shocked to realize it is illegal in the state of Michigan. Surrogacy contracts are not recognized, and compensated surrogacy can be punishable by a felony. We didn’t have an altruistic carrier to volunteer to carry for us in Michigan. Our only option was contractual compensated surrogacy. We were devastated. I started searching for an organization that could lend some support and resources. But Michigan did not have an organization advocating for both surrogacy and infertility, and that is how MFA came to be.
Kehrig: What fuels this excitement and drive to create and maintain MFA?
Jones: The primary driving force was my journey: I had an extremely rare, near-fatal Ruptured Cornual Ectopic Pregnancy in December 2016. This condition has a high fatality rate, most women can’t get to the hospital in time.
My life was spared due to a skilled OBGYN and a guardian angel. After being cleared to carry again, I experienced another medically unexplainable recurrence in 2018…it ended my ability to safely carry a pregnancy.
PTSD set in hard. After a whole lot of therapy and searching, I wanted to do something with my second chance at life and fight for people here in Michigan, like myself that have to go through surrogacy to have a baby. Helping work to change the laws so that Michiganders have access to surrogacy is my life’s mission.
Kehrig: What’s your dream for the future of surrogacy legislation in Michigan?
Jones: My goal is for surrogacy to be recognized as a treatment for a disease, that is infertility—which is recognized by both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Congress— and it would be no different than how we treat cancer or heart disease treatment. I want to clear the muddy waters that currently suffocate surrogacy in Michigan both medically and legally.
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In conclusion, Jones shares that “the capacity of humans, specifically women, and the community they’ve built, to help other women who are struggling, gives me hope. Someone in the surrogacy community once told me in response to the journey of changing the laws here, ‘water will find its way.’ As [the MFA fights] for change, I repeat this frequently. Those five simple words speak to the sheer will to change the law but more so to the desire to have a child.”
On September 22, the MFA is hosting its first ever Infertility Alliance Day. More information about this event, and the group’s concurrent letter writing campaign, may be found HERE.