The Italian senate has approved a ban making surrogacy a 'universal crime'.

The new law makes it illegal for Italian couples to travel abroad for surrogacy and carries a jail sentence of up to two years and fines of up to €1 million. The bill, proposed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, extends the domestic ban on surrogacy, in place since 2004. The bill was passed by the lower house last year (see BioNews 1200) and approved by the senate this week. The move has been criticised for targeting LGBTQ+ couples, who were already not allowed to adopt a child or use IVF domestically (see BioNews 1241).

'[Meloni] says this crusade is about protecting surrogate mothers but it's just homophobia, she wants to stop gay men being fathers,' Michele Covolan told the Times. Covolan and his partner Gianluca Voglino's daughter was born in September via international surrogacy, and during the pregnancy the couple was anxious about being caught under the law.

Meloni has described surrogacy as 'a symbol of an abominable society that confuses desire with rights and replaces God with money,' according to the BBC. Meloni has previously spoken out against surrogacy being used by same-sex couples as a self-described 'Christian mother' who believes children should only be raised with a mother and a father. However, the ban also raises serious concerns for couples who turn to surrogacy for health reasons, as 90 percent of the 250 Italian couples who rely on international surrogacy each year are heterosexual.

The Pope has also been vocal about his opposition to surrogacy and support for a ban. Pope Francis called for the 'international community to prohibit surrogacy' earlier this year (see BioNews 1222), arguing that the practice exploits women and infringes the right of the child to be created with dignity (see BioNews 1233 and 1236).

It is not yet clear how the law will be applied in practice. Filomena Gallo, a family lawyer and national secretary of the Luca Coscioni Association which campaigns for the decriminalisation of 'altruistic' or voluntary surrogacy, quoted in the Guardian, said 'Italy can pursue the crime but how will it proceed? How will couples be identified? Will they carry out investigations? Will there be different processes for heterosexuals and homosexuals? It will be extremely difficult to apply, hence why it seems more like a way to terrify people – the declarations made so far depict a police state in our country.'

Couples who have applied for a temporary passport for their baby born abroad through surrogacy to return home risk being reported by the Italian embassy to the public prosecutor's office. According to the Times, Eugenia Roccella, Meloni's minister for families, has gone further to demand doctors call the police if they suspect a child they are treating was born through international surrogacy. However, doctors' associations have refused to comply.

Source - https://www.progress.org.uk/italy-bans-its-citizens-from-accessing-surrogacy-abroad/