Italy passes law clamping down on surrogacy Tourism
Italy passes law clamping down on surrogacy tourism. Italians who travel overseas to use surrogacy to conceive a child to pay €1 million fine
The Italian government has made it unlawful for couples to travel outside to use surrogacy to conceive a child.
This initiative is a pet project of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party, and activists claim it is directed towards same-sex couples.
Since coming to power in 2022, Meloni has pushed a social agenda that is incredibly conservative in nature.
She wants to uphold traditional family values and has made it more difficult for LGBTQ couples to get legally recognised as parents.
A plan put forth by Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party was approved by the upper house senate on Wednesday, 84 votes to 58.
The lower house had previously given the bill its approval the previous year.
The law, which has been in effect in Italy since 2004, prohibits surrogacy.
It imposes jail of two years and fines of €1 million (£836,000) on individuals who travel to United States or Canada where its lawful.
Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, appeared on TV earlier this week.
Who is the true shapeshifter Giorgia Meloni?
Go over this further
Lavinia Mennuni, a senator from the Brothers of Italy, said, “motherhood is absolutely unique.
Motherhood absolutely cannot be surrogated, and it is the foundation of our civilisation.”
“The surrogacy tourism phenomenon is something we want to eradicate.”
Meloni, mirroring the Catholic church’s stance, referred to surrogacy earlier this year as a “inhuman” practice that treated children like commodities.
Though Italy’s birthrate is significantly decreasing, protesters expressed their indignation at the measure on Tuesday, gathering close to the senate.
They claimed the bill would harm individuals who wished to have children and that the government was targeting LGBTQ people.
“A medal ought to be awarded to anybody who has a child.
Franco Grillini, a long-time supporter of LGBTQ rights in Italy, said during the protest.
“Here instead you are sent to jail… if you don’t have children in the traditional way.”
According to Rainbow Families President Alessia Crocini, 90% of Italian couples who choose surrogacy are heterosexual.
They typically do so covertly, so the new law will essentially only impact homosexual couples who are unable to hide their sexual orientation.
The national statistics institute, ISTAT, said in March that births had fallen to a historic low in 2023, following the 15th straight annual reduction.
This news coincides with the crackdown on surrogacy.
This law, according to Grillini, is horrible. There is nothing like that in any nation in the globe.
Compiled by
World Travel News, Gorilla Trekking Uganda and Gorilla Trekking Rwanda
