The move is part of far-right Prime Minister Georgia Meloni's quest to purge gay parents from the country.
By Greg Owen
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
LGBTQ NATION
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
In Italy on Wednesday, the Italian Senate pushed forward the West’s most restrictive ban on international surrogacy, making it a crime punishable by prison time for Italians to use surrogates in another country. The move closes the door on same-sex couples’ last, best option to start a family in the country.
The far-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had already banned both surrogacy and domestic or international adoption by same-sex couples in Italy.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
In Italy on Wednesday, the Italian Senate pushed forward the West’s most restrictive ban on international surrogacy, making it a crime punishable by prison time for Italians to use surrogates in another country. The move closes the door on same-sex couples’ last, best option to start a family in the country.
The far-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had already banned both surrogacy and domestic or international adoption by same-sex couples in Italy.
Related:
Italy orders cities to stop recognizing children of same-sex couples
People were protesting in the streets.
The legislation amending existing Italian law would classify surrogacy as a universal crime transcending borders and impose a two-year prison sentence and a million-euro fine for defying it. The law also criminalizes work by Italian doctors, nurses and technicians in foreign fertility clinics that provide surrogacy services.
People were protesting in the streets.
The legislation amending existing Italian law would classify surrogacy as a universal crime transcending borders and impose a two-year prison sentence and a million-euro fine for defying it. The law also criminalizes work by Italian doctors, nurses and technicians in foreign fertility clinics that provide surrogacy services.
Last year, Meloni’s government barred Italian cities and towns from accepting birth certificates that list same-sex parents, denying their children access to citizenship, public schooling and healthcare. That edict is tied up in court.
The Senate’s passage of the anti-surrogacy law, 84 to 58, follows approval by the government’s lower house last year, virtually assuring its enactment.
Meloni has made “traditional values” a cornerstone of her tenure leading the Brothers of Italy party, despite being a single mother who never married. The far-right populist league was founded on the ruins of Benito Mussolini’s Republican Fascist Party in the aftermath of World War II.
“It’s like a truck hitting us in the face,” Pierre Molena, a gay man pursuing surrogacy abroad with his partner, told The New York Times.
“We are worried about our future and that of our children,” he said.
“It is nature that decides this, not us,” Sen. Susanna Campione, who voted in favor of the law, told the The Washington Post.
“This is a civilized law that safeguards the child but also the woman, since we believe that surrogacy essentially reduces a woman to a reproductive machine.”
While most U.S. states and Canada allow the practice, surrogacy has become a flashpoint in Europe. Germany and France ban domestic surrogacy, while it’s legal in the United Kingdom and Greece under certain circumstances. Pope Francis has labeled the practice “womb renting,” and called for a global ban.
About 250 couples a year in Italy pursue international surrogacy, according to legal experts. Ten percent of those couples are same-sex.
“This law is disgusting,” Salvatore Scarpa told the The Post. The gay dad and his partner had a daughter with a surrogate based in California last year and plan to have a second child with the same woman. They have an implantation planned for this month.
“They cannot stop our family. How dare they judge us,” he said.
Alessandra Maiorino, a member of Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement, said the new law stigmatizes children already born to gay couples as well, telling lawmakers who voted for it: “It looks like you don’t realize these people already exist.”
Italy expands its ban on surrogacy to overseas as critics say it targets same-sex couples
Italians seeking surrogacy in countries such as the United States or Canada, where the practice is legal, can face up to two years in jail and up to $1.1 million in fines.
Photo by: Alessandra Tarantino / AP
People hold banners reading "we are families not crimes" during a pro-surrogacy flash-mob in Rome.
By: AP via Scripps News
Italy on Wednesday criminalized citizens who go abroad to have children through surrogacy, a measure slammed by opponents as "medieval" and discriminatory to same-sex couples.
The measure extending a surrogacy ban in place since 2004 was promoted by Premier Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party and its conservative coalition partner, the League, asserting that it protects women’s dignity.
The Senate passed the bill 84-58 after a seven-hour debate, the final step in the process after the Lower House's approval last year.
Italians seeking surrogacy in countries such as the United States or Canada, where the practice is legal, can face up to two years in jail and up to $1.1 million in fines.
The surrogacy ban applies equally to all couples. But same-sex parent advocates say it hits gay families particularly hard in a country struggling with record-low birthrates and where only heterosexual couples are allowed to adopt.
RELATED STORY | Paid surrogacy legalized in Michigan after gov. signs package of bills
Same-sex marriages are also banned in Italy, and LGBTQ+ couples have been fighting to obtain parental rights for the partner who is not the biological parent.
Several lawmakers and LGBTQ+ activists protested in front of the Senate to oppose the law, some holding banners that read: “Parents, not criminals."
"When protectionism prevails, a social phenomenon is not erased," opposition lawmaker Riccardo Magi said during the protest. "It is simply relegated to a dark area, which the law doesn't reach. In that case, it’s easier for exploitation, abuse and rights violations to prevail."
"We are very saddened because Italy has once again missed an opportunity to demonstrate that it is a country in line with what Europe and the world are," said Cristiano Giraldi, the father of two 10-year-old children born from a surrogate mother in the U.S.
RELATED STORY | Why Pope Francis has joined the calls for a ban on surrogacy
The Catholic Church has strongly opposed surrogacy in Italy and abroad, with Pope Francis calling for a universal ban and criticizing what he called the “commercialization” of pregnancy.
At the same time, the Vatican’s doctrine office has made clear that same-sex parents who resort to surrogacy can have their children baptized.
While commercial surrogacy contracts are common in the U.S. — including protections for mothers, guarantees of independent legal representation and medical coverage — they are banned in parts of Europe including Spain and Italy.
Italians seeking surrogacy in countries such as the United States or Canada, where the practice is legal, can face up to two years in jail and up to $1.1 million in fines.
Photo by: Alessandra Tarantino / AP
People hold banners reading "we are families not crimes" during a pro-surrogacy flash-mob in Rome.
By: AP via Scripps News
Italy on Wednesday criminalized citizens who go abroad to have children through surrogacy, a measure slammed by opponents as "medieval" and discriminatory to same-sex couples.
The measure extending a surrogacy ban in place since 2004 was promoted by Premier Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party and its conservative coalition partner, the League, asserting that it protects women’s dignity.
The Senate passed the bill 84-58 after a seven-hour debate, the final step in the process after the Lower House's approval last year.
Italians seeking surrogacy in countries such as the United States or Canada, where the practice is legal, can face up to two years in jail and up to $1.1 million in fines.
The surrogacy ban applies equally to all couples. But same-sex parent advocates say it hits gay families particularly hard in a country struggling with record-low birthrates and where only heterosexual couples are allowed to adopt.
RELATED STORY | Paid surrogacy legalized in Michigan after gov. signs package of bills
Same-sex marriages are also banned in Italy, and LGBTQ+ couples have been fighting to obtain parental rights for the partner who is not the biological parent.
Several lawmakers and LGBTQ+ activists protested in front of the Senate to oppose the law, some holding banners that read: “Parents, not criminals."
"When protectionism prevails, a social phenomenon is not erased," opposition lawmaker Riccardo Magi said during the protest. "It is simply relegated to a dark area, which the law doesn't reach. In that case, it’s easier for exploitation, abuse and rights violations to prevail."
"We are very saddened because Italy has once again missed an opportunity to demonstrate that it is a country in line with what Europe and the world are," said Cristiano Giraldi, the father of two 10-year-old children born from a surrogate mother in the U.S.
RELATED STORY | Why Pope Francis has joined the calls for a ban on surrogacy
The Catholic Church has strongly opposed surrogacy in Italy and abroad, with Pope Francis calling for a universal ban and criticizing what he called the “commercialization” of pregnancy.
At the same time, the Vatican’s doctrine office has made clear that same-sex parents who resort to surrogacy can have their children baptized.
While commercial surrogacy contracts are common in the U.S. — including protections for mothers, guarantees of independent legal representation and medical coverage — they are banned in parts of Europe including Spain and Italy.
Italy bans couples from travelling abroad for surrogacy
Maia Davies
BBC News
EPA
The move is part of the socially conservative agenda of Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
Italy has made it illegal for couples to go abroad to have a baby through surrogacy.
The move extends a ban on the practice inside the country to also include those who seek it out in places where it is legal, like the US or Canada. Those who break the law could face up to two years in prison and fines of up to €1m (£835,710).
The law, proposed by the Italy's far-right governing party, is seen by critics to target LGBT couples - who are not allowed to adopt or use IVF in the country.
Surrogacy is when a woman carries a pregnancy for another couple or individual, usually due to fertility issues or because they are men in a same-sex relationship.
The law passed by 84 votes to 58 in Italy's senate on Wednesday.
In a protest ahead of the vote, the law's opponents said it made it harder for people to become parents - despite the country's declining birth rate.
"If someone has a baby they should be given a medal”, LGBT activist Franco Grillini told the Reuters news agency at the demonstration.
“Here instead you are sent to jail... if you don't have children in the traditional way.
"This is a monstrous law. No country in the world has such a thing."
The move is part of the socially conservative agenda of Giorgia Meloni - Italy's first female prime minister and leader of the Brothers of Italy party.
She has described herself as a Christian mother and believes children should only be raised by a man and a woman.
Meloni has previously spoken out against surrogacy involving LGBT couples, and anti-LGBT rhetoric was a key feature of her election campaign.
In a speech in 2022, she said “yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby”.
In 2023, her government instructed Milan’s city council to stop registering the children of same-sex parents.
Meloni has described surrogacy as "a symbol of an abominable society that confuses desire with rights and replaces God with money".
Her deputy, Matteo Salvini, has also called the practice an "aberration" that treats women like an "ATM".
The MP that drafted Wednesday's ban previously denied that it was designed to harm LGBT people: "Most people who use surrogacy are heterosexual.”
It would “protect women and their dignity”, said Carolina Varchi.
Experts told the BBC that 90% of the couples who use surrogacy in Italy are straight, and many of them hide the fact that they have gone abroad to have a baby.
But same-sex families returning to Italy with a child cannot hide in the same way.
LGBT couples previously told the BBC of their fears surrounding the law.
Surrogacy laws around the world
Italy, Spain, France and Germany are among the European countries which outlaw all forms of surrogacy.
In the UK, it is illegal to pay for surrogacy beyond the surrogate's reasonable expenses. The surrogate will be registered on the birth certificate until parenthood is transferred via a parental order.
In Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic, it's not possible to get a court to enforce a surrogacy agreement. This is the same in the UK, where a court will decide what is in the best interest of the child if there is a disagreement.
Greece accepts foreign couples and provides legal protection to the intended parents - the surrogate has no legal rights over the child - however Greece insists there should be a woman in the relationship (thus excluding gay couples or single men).
The US and Canada allow surrogacy for same-sex couples, and recognise them as the legal parents from birth.
Maia Davies
BBC News
EPAThe move is part of the socially conservative agenda of Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
Italy has made it illegal for couples to go abroad to have a baby through surrogacy.
The move extends a ban on the practice inside the country to also include those who seek it out in places where it is legal, like the US or Canada. Those who break the law could face up to two years in prison and fines of up to €1m (£835,710).
The law, proposed by the Italy's far-right governing party, is seen by critics to target LGBT couples - who are not allowed to adopt or use IVF in the country.
Surrogacy is when a woman carries a pregnancy for another couple or individual, usually due to fertility issues or because they are men in a same-sex relationship.
The law passed by 84 votes to 58 in Italy's senate on Wednesday.
In a protest ahead of the vote, the law's opponents said it made it harder for people to become parents - despite the country's declining birth rate.
"If someone has a baby they should be given a medal”, LGBT activist Franco Grillini told the Reuters news agency at the demonstration.
“Here instead you are sent to jail... if you don't have children in the traditional way.
"This is a monstrous law. No country in the world has such a thing."
The move is part of the socially conservative agenda of Giorgia Meloni - Italy's first female prime minister and leader of the Brothers of Italy party.
She has described herself as a Christian mother and believes children should only be raised by a man and a woman.
Meloni has previously spoken out against surrogacy involving LGBT couples, and anti-LGBT rhetoric was a key feature of her election campaign.
In a speech in 2022, she said “yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby”.
In 2023, her government instructed Milan’s city council to stop registering the children of same-sex parents.
Meloni has described surrogacy as "a symbol of an abominable society that confuses desire with rights and replaces God with money".
Her deputy, Matteo Salvini, has also called the practice an "aberration" that treats women like an "ATM".
The MP that drafted Wednesday's ban previously denied that it was designed to harm LGBT people: "Most people who use surrogacy are heterosexual.”
It would “protect women and their dignity”, said Carolina Varchi.
Experts told the BBC that 90% of the couples who use surrogacy in Italy are straight, and many of them hide the fact that they have gone abroad to have a baby.
But same-sex families returning to Italy with a child cannot hide in the same way.
LGBT couples previously told the BBC of their fears surrounding the law.
Surrogacy laws around the world
Italy, Spain, France and Germany are among the European countries which outlaw all forms of surrogacy.
In the UK, it is illegal to pay for surrogacy beyond the surrogate's reasonable expenses. The surrogate will be registered on the birth certificate until parenthood is transferred via a parental order.
In Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic, it's not possible to get a court to enforce a surrogacy agreement. This is the same in the UK, where a court will decide what is in the best interest of the child if there is a disagreement.
Greece accepts foreign couples and provides legal protection to the intended parents - the surrogate has no legal rights over the child - however Greece insists there should be a woman in the relationship (thus excluding gay couples or single men).
The US and Canada allow surrogacy for same-sex couples, and recognise them as the legal parents from birth.
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