Italian parliament approves bill to criminalise surrogacy abroad

26 comments

1. “Italy passed a law on Wednesday that criminalizes seeking surrogacy abroad, a move the country’s conservative government said would protect women’s dignity, while critics said it would deprive gay or infertile couples of a way to have children.

   Surrogacy is already illegal in Italy. But the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to broaden the ban to punish Italians who seek it in countries where it is legal, like in parts of the United States.

   Italy’s Senate approved the bill with 84 votes in favor and 58 against.

   The Roman Catholic church, along with many feminists, have opposed surrogacy, and it is outlawed in other European countries. In some, like the United Kingdom and Greece, it is legal under certain conditions.”

2. I thought Italy was worried about the declining birth rate?

3. There is nothing worse than conservative values.

4. This is just evil, pure evil.

5. If something is allowed in other countries, then prosecuting it from the country of origin introduces chaos into international relations. Ultimately, this is a bad solution, leading to problems and indirectly imposing different laws on other countries.

   Does Italy intend to act systematically and symmetrically and, for example, stone a woman for adultery if she escapes punishment in Saudi Arabia?

   It’s just stupidity and that’s all…

6. It’s not enough that Italians are leaving the country as it is… let’s give them more reasons to leave. But what can you do when you elect idiots…

7. I am convinced that the birthing mother has every right to keep the child she birthed. So any surrogacy ‘system’ can only work if it’s absolutely voluntary and as long as the genetic parents respect that.

8. And now we wait for Mister President Giorgia Meloni to lure Elon Musk in Italy so he can be arrested.

9. Does by surrogacy the paper means in vitro?

10. With adoption by same sex couples also being illegal in Italy, this functionally makes it impossible for same sex couples to become parents.

    The Washington Post did a good article interviewing some parents who this will affect: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/10/16/italy-surrogacy-ban-gay-parents/

    In the eyes of Italian law their infant daughter is an American who overstayed a visa.

    Regardless of how you feel about the practice of surrogacy, criminalizing it and punishing the children born via that method is just not right. The kids who were already born who are living in Italy are now functionally being treated as illegal immigrants by the law despite being raised by Italian parents in Italy. It’s unjust for the children being forced to live in this legal gray area.

11. How Alessandro Zan said: “You (the right-wing majority government) say “No” to criminalise torture, you say “No” to criminalise slavery, and say “Yes” to criminalise surrogacy. So Giorgia Meloni now must have the courage to look in the eyes to Elon Musk, who had a daughter through surrogacy, and tell him that he’s a criminal. Instead, she welcomes him to her office and, because he’s right-wing and rich, Giorgia Meloni didn’t close one eye, but both of them. Apparently, if you’re from the right and rich, surrogacy is not longer a problem”.

12. Given that overseas surrogacy can be incredibly exploitative of women in low-income countries, I feel like criminalising it overseas can be justified so long as its legal in Italy. But its not, so this seems like a bullshit approach to take.

13. Nice, a logical thing to do… I hope that we will criminalise it in Greece too. It’s a shame.

14. I have been to Ukraine (Pre-War) and have seen these posters and flyers all around. They prey on vulnerable women and they get feck all of the money that these people pay. I think around 25%/10k.

    And if there is something wrong with the child then the buyers occasionally will just run and leave the poor child with the mother or in an orphanage.

    Buying babies is reprehensible, it can never be normalized.

    I have no problems with altruistic surrogacy but the commercial stuff needs to be banned.

15. Good. I thought that the debate on whether purchasing people is bad had been settled centuries ago.

    To which I’ll add on top of that, if the mother needs the money, she isn’t doing it “voluntarily” either. You’ll find real horror stories from their perspectives if you look it up. They take advantage of vulnerable women.

16. Come on. Surrogacy is gross. Renting poor women’s wombs in third world countries. What’s the difference between that and prostitution. History will judge that poorly

17. The Italian government is quite draconian in relation to surrogacy even before the Meloni government.

    In one example, they even “confiscated” the child and gave it to another family:

    There was a married heterosexual couple who entered into a gestational surrogacy agreement with a Russian company in Moscow. After a successful *in vitro* fertilisation in May 2010 – purportedly carried out using the father’s sperm – two embryos “belonging to them” were implanted in the womb of a surrogate mother. A child was born in February 2011.

    In May 2011, after they had requested that the Italian authorities register the birth certificate, the applicants were placed under investigation for “misrepresentation of civil status” and violation of the adoption legislation.

    In October 2011 **the minors court decided to remove the child from the applicants. Contact was forbidden between the applicants and the child. The child had since been adopted by another family.**

    [https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/?i=002-11439](https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/?i=002-11439)

18. In other words, those who want kids and this is the only way will leave the country for good. Weren’t they just recently complaining about the birth rates being in the toilet?

19. Immigrant 19 year old girl risking her life to give birth to a baby to sell for two strangers for some laughable sum of money, how feminist and progressive

20. “Don´t buy, adopt”. Having a kind is not a right. Commercial surrogacy must be criminalized.

21. The women who carry someone elses baby are poor people from poor countries. What more is there that you need to know?

22. A better way would be to make it happen fully domestically and create a very safe environment to do it

23. Fuck the Italian government.

24. I don’t understand the issue with surrogacy as long as it is between consenting adults AND there are regulations governing sticky topics like not wanting the baby if they have a disability, who has parental rights, if the surrogate wants to keep the baby, etc just like any contract.

    I understand the potential for exploitation (re: another persons comment about immigrant women) but how is that an issue unique to surrogacy? does banning legal surrogacy decrease the chances of a poor immigrant woman giving birth to and giving up a baby for money? Banning surrogacy will probably increase the odds of the under the table transactions since there is no legal route. That seems like an issue more of human trafficking, where a vulnerable person is promised $$ in exchange for providing something (sex, or in this case a baby).

    Again, if it is a regulated industry, how is surrogacy unethical?

25. Hi! Uneducated guy here!

    My english cannot comprehend this: How can a law apply to abroad? You mean like Italians abroad? Or what?

26. This will only entice people who seek surrogacy to leave Italy altogether.

    And since surrogacy tends to be rather expensive, it’ll be *rich* people who leave, resulting in less taxes and fewer spending.

    Nice shot in the knee for the government of Italy, I’d say.