Italy Further Restricts Same-Sex Couples From Having Children

Italy’s right-wing government has voted to ban couples from having babies through surrogacy abroad, further limiting parenting options for same-sex couples.

The Italian Senate passed the law on Wednesday with 84 votes in favour and 58 against. The new legislation extends Italy’s existing domestic ban on surrogacy, criminalising couples who seek the service in countries where it is legal.

Although most couples using surrogacy are heterosexual, critics view the law as specifically targeting same-sex couples.

Civil unions for same-sex couples have been legal in Italy since 2016, but these partnerships do not offer the same rights as marriage. Same-sex couples are also denied the right to adopt jointly.

Italian LGBT+ group Arcigay condemned the bill’s passage, calling it a “serious denial of individual freedoms and self-determination.”

“Every woman must have the right to decide how, when, and if she wants to carry a pregnancy, and pregnancy for others can be a conscious and altruistic choice,” asserted Michela Calabrò, head of Arcigay’s Transfeminist Women Network.

“This law highlights the government and Parliament’s inability to address other important and urgent issues in the country. The parliamentary majority once again chooses to flex its muscles on ideological matters, while failing to deliver on practical issues,” Calabrò added.

Italy’s right-wing Christian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage and parenting, advocating for families headed by a man and a woman.

Meloni, who champions the motto “God, Fatherland, and Family,” declared in a 2022 rally in Spain, “Yes to the natural family! No to the LGBT lobby!”

In 2023, a public prosecutor in Padova sought to remove the names of non-genetic mothers from 33 birth certificates of children born to same-sex couples via donor insemination.