Immaculate Conception Comment Causes Stir

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/12/2025) Ideological tensions between conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats exposed themselves Tuesday in a House committee during testimony over revised legislation that would allow unwanted newborns to be deposited in a safety delivery box attached to a hospital, police station or fire station.

Rep. Erin Byrnes (D-Dearborn) asked the House Families and Veterans Committee aloud if data supported the assertion assumed in committee that women were primarily abandoning the newborns they couldn't raise, for whatever reason, or if the fathers should be mentioned in the conversation, as well.

“Women don't become pregnant on their own,” Byrnes said. “Immaculate conception is not a medically recognized phenomenon nowadays, that I'm aware of.”

The comment came amid other skeptical questions and comments made by the panel's Democrats about the safety and need for a drop box for unwanted newborns, but Republicans weren't going to let this comment go uncontested.

On the point that women shouldn't be left to publicly shoulder the responsibility of abandoning a child, Rep. Jamie Thompson (R-Brownstown) said, “This is quickly turning into a Republican/pro-life versus pro-abortion hearing that I take great offense to. The responsibilities being put on the woman is very clear, because men don't give birth . . . Fathers don't have a say in Michigan if a child is aborted or not."

On the religious reference, Rep. Jason Woolford (R-Howell) said, “I find it very, very disrespectful because there has been only one immaculate conception and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who is the Lord savior of Christians and Catholics.”

He added that he hopes the people watching the video will remember the “mockery on Christianity." Chair Kathy Schmaltz (R-Jackson) ended the comment with saying she agreed Byrnes' reference was “uncalled for.” The reworked legislation -- HB 4067, HB 4069 and HB 4368 – returned to the House committee on Tuesday, more than five years since then-Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed it on his way out the door in 2018 by writing in his veto letter, “I do not believe it is appropriate to allow for parents to surrender a baby by simply depositing the baby into a device, rather than physically handing the baby to a uniformed police, fire, or hospital employee.”

However, Genevieve Marnon from Right to Life shared with the House Families and Veterans Committee a story in which a new mother's anonymity in surrendering the newborn may have been a life-or-death situation involving the child's “dangerous” father. The newborn safety device was the best choice, she said.

“As soon as he found out she was pregnant, the father began coercing her to have an abortion. When she refused, he ramped up calls and threats, eventually saying he would destroy her, and these were not idle threats. He had the means and the know-how,” Marnon said. “I won't go into more detail than that, but let's just say he was a very dangerous man. Out of fear, the woman kept her pregnancy a complete secret. She hid it for nine months. Her family didn't know . . . Here's where a baby box could have been very useful.”

The panel's four Democrats were visibly frustrated after that point and all left around the 90-minute mark before the committee meeting gaveled to a close.

Asked about the exchange after Tuesday’s committee, Byrnes said, “I made a statement of fact in committee, and several of my Republican colleagues got their feathers ruffled. To the best of my knowledge, immaculate conception was a one-time occurrence, and when talking about modern-day pregnancy it's important to acknowledge that it takes two to tango. We should be focused on empowering people with accurate information and resources regarding reproductive care, and I hope my Republican colleagues will stop being so thin-skinned and join me in that work one day.”

Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) was frustrated by the entire debate. For one, she said the House should be working on budgets, not debating this particular bill. Beyond that, she said she found the anonymity behind the drop box to be troubling.

If a woman who is being trafficked is giving up a baby, for example, she may be able to seek help if she has to go to a police station, she said.

Marnon countered that a woman who is in a problematic situation like this may end up abandoning the child in a park or near a dumpster to prevent from being punished by her handler. The drop box may be the only way the mother would put that child in the arms of proper authorities.