Tammy Myers is feeling extra thankful this Thanksgiving after getting word that the Michigan surrogacy law that forced her and her husband to adopt their own biological twins may finally be repealed.
Tears streamed down her face as she watched all nine bills of the Michigan Family Protection Act pass the House of Representatives on Nov. 8. The bills will now go to the Senate and, if passed, would repeal the last criminal ban on surrogacy in the US
“It’s been a long road for our family, but we hope to see positive change in Michigan in 2024,” Myers, 42, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
That long journey began after Myers was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She and husband Jordan, who already had a daughter together, planned to have more children. But her diagnosis thwarted the plan.
Older sister Corryn with brother Eames and sister Ellison.
courtesy of the myers family
This Michigan family is fighting to adopt their own twins born via surrogate: ‘They’re trying to tear us apart’
“We really wanted to have two to three kids close in age so they could grow up to be best friends and playmates,” says Myers. “Our daughter Corryn was 2 years old when we started trying for a second child. And then I found a lump and was diagnosed with breast cancer.”
The first words out of Myers’ mouth were, “How much time do I have?” Then she asked, “Can I have another child?”
“If I didn’t ask that question, you can’t go back,” Myers says. “I was able to do an emergency egg harvest before going straight to treatment and surgery for a few years.”
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Little did Myers imagine after finishing cancer treatment and looking forward to the birth of their twins with carrier Lauren Vermilye that the worst was yet to come: a 1988 Michigan law would force them to adopt their own biological babies, which would take nearly two years of legal battles, uncertainty insurance and financial challenges before that happens.
Son Eames and daughter Ellison, born January 11, 2021, were not legally adopted by their biological parents until December 2022.
“We’re the last state in the entire country that doesn’t have any clear legal avenues of parentage for surrogacy,” says Vermilye, who also serves as the twins’ godmother. These laws are outdated and must be changed.
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Ellison Myers.
courtesy of the myers family
Myers’ call to activism came on the day her babies were born. The couple was told they had essentially “zero rights” regarding the newborns, according to Myers.
“I started texting and reaching out to everyone I knew about what was going on,” Myers says. “My husband just looked and said, ‘They just messed with the wrong Mama Bear. It’s not going to stop until something changes here.'”
Michigan couple forced to adopt biological twins reveal they ‘wouldn’t change a thing’ about legal battle
In her struggle, Myers came into contact with House Representative Samantha Steckloff, who shared a similar story. She was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and had her eggs removed so she could become pregnant later. “This is more common than people realize,” Steckloff, 39, tells PEOPLE. “I started to learn that family planning was no longer in my hands and that was hard to swallow at 31.”
She was shocked to discover that surrogacy contracts are not legal in Michigan. After being elected, Steckloff became a champion of fertility rights in her state, with the goal of changing surrogacy laws. “Surrogacy in this country was the wild, wild west where you had to find someone to carry your child and then you would have them adopted after that,” says Steckloff.
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Tammy Myers, left, with Rep. Samantha Steckloff.
courtesy of the myers family
After the adoption finally came, Myers says the closure she thought would happen didn’t.
“I didn’t feel like it was behind me and I don’t feel like we’re going to have closure until the law changes,” Myers says.
Mired in legal matters, Myers says much of the first two years of her twins’ lives are “a blur.”
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Instead of enjoying their miracle babies, they had to worry about getting them on their health insurance and making medical decisions when they didn’t have legal status.
“Looking back, the legal insanity of those years overshadowed the real miracle,” Myers says. “I think I’m more bitter and hurt about it now than I was when it was happening.”
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The twins Eames and Ellison Myers.
courtesy of the myers family
Slowly, however, they enter the usual rhythm of family life with two little ones and an older sister who adores them.
“Corryn is the best big sister and a really big help in the chaos,” says Myers. “She can get the best smiles out of both of them much better than we can.”
And this Thanksgiving, she finds herself closer to the closure she’s sought for years.
The Myers will spend the day with their extended family and look forward to the hope that with the changes in the law, other families will not have to go through what they did.
“This is something that will take us a while to get over,” Myers admits. “At this time we are doing our best to just focus on our family.”
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Source: HIS Education