Strongly pushed by the head of government Giorgia Meloni and her far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, Italy has banned its citizens from using surrogate mothers since Monday, November 18. This legislation, which appears in the Official Journal one month after its last adoption in Parliament, applies on its soil, but also for any Italian who has used surrogacy (GPA) in a foreign country where it is authorized.
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With our correspondent in Rome, Anne Le Nir
It took almost a month of reflection, after its adoption by the Italian Parliament. The Italian president Sergio Mattarella finally agreed to promulgate the law on surrogacy which toughens the 2004 legislative text.
For 20 years and until now, Italian law prohibited surrogacy only in the peninsula. The new legislation also punishes Italians who have resorted to this practice in foreign countries where it is legal.
Any heterosexual or same-sex couple will be liable to the same penalties provided for by the 2004 law upon their return to Italy : from three months to two years in prison and up to one million euros fine. It states that surrogacy is a universal offense.
Furthermore, the law highlights a legal void. The registration in the Civil Registry of a child born to a surrogate mother is limited to the biological parent only. Supported by opposition partiesthe Luca Coscioni association for the freedom of scientific research declares itself ready to fight to appeal the law before the Constitutional Court.