Michigan Women Sue the State So They Can't Be Forced to Be Incubators

"The lawsuit challenges a Michigan law that overrides patients' advance medical directives if they're pregnant; advance directives are legal documents that spell out people's choices for end-of-life medical care. But Michigan is one state of many states that restricts people's rights if they're pregnant, meaning hospitals can force unwanted medical interventions like life support in order to protect potential fetal life. These laws are fundamentally fetal personhood statutes, giving legal rights to embryos and fetuses that supplant the rights of the person gestating them."

"More than 30 states have advance directive laws containing a so-called "pregnancy exclusion," per the reproductive justice law firm If/When/How, but Michigan is the only one that broadly protects reproductive rights in its constitution. The plaintiffs argue in the complaint that the pregnancy carve-out violates the amendment voters passed in 2022 to codify reproductive freedom into the state constitution. The text of that amendment said, among other things, that residents would have"

"The plaintiffs-three women with advance directives and four physicians who provide pregnancy or end-of-life care-are represented by end-of-life care organization Compassion Legal and If/When/How. The groups partnered earlier this year on a similar lawsuit in Kansas, which is ongoing, and won a previous case in Idaho in 2021. State lawmakers in Washington and Colorado repealed their pregnancy exclusions in 2025 and 2021, resp"

A lawsuit filed in Michigan by multiple women and physicians challenges a state law that voids advance medical directives when patients are pregnant. The law allows hospitals to override end-of-life wishes and impose life support to protect potential fetal life. Over 30 states include similar pregnancy exclusion provisions in advance directive laws, effectively granting fetal personhood and limiting the rights of people who are pregnant. Michigan's constitution broadly protects reproductive rights after a 2022 amendment, and the plaintiffs claim the pregnancy carve-out violates that amendment. Plaintiffs are represented by Compassion Legal and If/When/How, following similar litigation in Kansas and prior wins in Idaho; Washington and Colorado repealed such exclusions.

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