Italy passes ‘monstrous’ ban on couples travelling abroad for surrogacy
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a vocal opponent of LGBTQ+ rights. (Massimo Valicchia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Italy has passed a law that bans couples from so-called surrogacy tourism, after far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni described the practice as “inhuman”.
In April, Meloni, the leader of the populist Brothers of Italy party, voiced her support for a bill that would make surrogacy a “universal crime”.
On Wednesday (16 October), the law to prevent couples going abroad for surrogacy passed in the upper-house senate by 84 votes to 58. It has already been approved by parliament’s lower house.
Those convicted of breaking the law face up to two years in prison and a maximum of €1 million (£835,000/$1.08 million).
The law extends a ban on surrogacy already in place in Italy.
Surrogacy, the act of a person giving birth to a child for another couple or family, has remained a contentious issue in the Italy since Meloni took office in 2022 and the ban has been described as one of her pet projects.
Critics have said the latest legislation hits LGBTQ+ couples, who aren’t allowed to adopt or use IVF in the country, the hardest.
‘This is a monstrous law’
At a rally, LGBTQ+ activist Franco Grillini told Reuters: “If someone has a baby, they should be given a medal. 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 MP who drafted the ban has previously denied that it was designed to target LGBTQ+ people. “Most people who use surrogacy are heterosexual,” said Carolina Varchi, adding that the law would “protect women and their dignity”, according to the BBC.
The Guardian reported Alessia Crocini, the president of Rainbow Families, saying 90 per cent of Italians couple who chose surrogacy were heterosexual and were mostly able to do so in secret, meaning the new ban would de facto affect only gay couples who could not hide it.
Spain, France and Germany also outlaw surrogacy.
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