BBC on surrogacy legislation in Italy

[HerGorgeousMajestyArabellaScott]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66860266

'... the Italian senate is set to approve a bill that would make surrogacy a "universal crime" - one so serious that it would be prosecuted even if committed abroad, like human trafficking or paedophilia. '

The BBC article presents this as purely a LGBT issue, which makes it somewhat odd to read.The article also includes discussion of a separate legal issue - as far as I can tell, to do with birth certificates and same-sex parents, although there is scant detail on this part.

'Artificial insemination or adoption are not options for LGBT couples here, so for many, surrogacy abroad is the only way to have a family.

The practice has been at the centre of a fractious political debate.
Meloni has described it as "a symbol of an abominable society that confuses desire with rights and replaces God with money".
And Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini compared surrogacy to using a cash dispenser: "An ATM-woman… that produces babies... is an aberration," he said.
"I will fight this barbarous and inhumane practice - just the thought of it makes me sick."'

Responses from the government:

'Carolina Varchi, the Brothers of Italy MP who drafted the bill, vehemently rejects that. "Most people who use surrogacy are heterosexual," she says.
Experts have told the BBC that 90% of the couples who use surrogacy in Italy are straight, and many of them hide the fact that they have gone abroad to have a baby.
But same-sex families returning to Italy with a child will not be able to hide.
Ms Varchi strongly believes the new law will "protect women and their dignity".
"It's intolerable. Women's bodies are reduced to objects that are rented for nine months to bring a child into the world, who is then ripped away to be delivered to the clients."
Ms Varchi adds: "We are not discriminating against children. This bill only targets the parents who commission a baby."
She told the BBC that surrogacy should be seen as a crime as serious as paedophilia, and prosecuted as such. However she suggested that most people would receive a fine, rather than face prison.'

If anyone has any further info on what's happening in Italy wrt surrogacy that would be great to hear.

Sorry, what I meant to say is that it’s much more than rented wombs, I can rent my house or bike, but at the end of the day I don’t harm anyone. When the byproduct of renting is a baby that’s a different story.

(As an aside) I just reported a video of an influencer on Instagram clutching her face and squeeing in her skintight leggings over her ‘baby via surrogate’ being wheeled into her hospital room. Instagram allows you to report if a post is ‘selling or promoting restricted items’ and I chose ‘animal’ as the item. They can’t post videos of exotic animals for sale but the sale of a baby is absolutely fine.

I was surprised to read, on a different thread, opposition to the very idea of lesbian couples having children in 2024! - that legal battle was won years ago. @MarieDeGournay

I think the conversation was with me. But I wasn't opposing the idea of lesbian couples having children in 2024! I was simply saying that making a decision from the offset to exclude a father from a child's life needed careful consideration. In my opinion children need a relationship with their father if possible. It is a different consideration from deliberately excluding a mother. But all the same, I come at these discussions from the viewpoint of child needs above parental needs I suppose. I am certainly not saying lesbian couples cannot be and are not great parents.

I am in Italy and , as a PP has said, this move is about closing loopholes. It was ridiculous to have a law banning surrogacy but allowing it abroad. Of course, many people have jumped on with their own agendas too.