Italian lawmakers have approved a bill making surrogate motherhood a “universal crime”.
A bill forwarded by Carolina Varchi of the Brothers of Italy party was finally approved in the Italian Senate on October 16.
Italians who attempt surrogacy now face penalties of three months to two years in prison, along with fines ranging from €600,000 to €1 million.
“A common-sense rule against the commodification of the female body and children,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.
“Human life has no price and is not a commodity.”
Con l’approvazione definitiva di oggi al Senato, il ddl che rende l'utero in affitto reato universale è finalmente legge. Una norma di buonsenso contro la mercificazione del corpo femminile e dei bambini. La vita umana non ha prezzo e non è merce di scambio.
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 16, 2024
Of the 142 Senators voting, 84 were in favour and 58 were opposed. The required majority was 72.
The bill received the full support of the Right and partial support from the Left, which was split over the issue.
Surrogacy had already been prohibited and criminally sanctioned in Italy since 2004, which was confirmed by Italy’s Constitutional Court in 2014.
What has now changed is that it has became ‘universal’, meaning that surrogacy is not only seen as a crime within Italian borders but also for its citizens abroad.
It extends Italian jurisdiction globally, even if the surrogacy is legally conducted in other countries where it is permitted. That is intended to block those who try to circumvent the ban by adopting surrogacy in another country.
Those opposing surrogacy in Italy had called the practice “uterus for rent”, saying it was highly unethical. The bill spoke of “the commercialisation of gametes or embryos or surrogacy”.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of the hard-right La Lega said the bill marked an end to the “squalid billionaire business that exploits women for economic purposes”.
There still was a firm debate in the Senate, with 5 Star Movement Senator Elisa Pirro taking a feminist line: “Are the majority male colleagues saying that the uterus is not mine? My organs are mine and I do what I want with them. We are at the Communism of the organs. I can give the kidney, but I cannot lend my uterus, as a free, Italian woman?”
Despite that, feminist organisations such as Rad Fem Italia and the Network for the Inviolability of the Female Body were supportive of the ban. In a statement they said surrogacy was “unworthy slavery”, on its way back across the globe.
They added, though, that they faced much opposition from those against them, stating it was: “A battle … which has cost us ostracism, stigma and political isolation on the part of the very Left from whose ranks most of us come.”
They said they faced rejection “with absolute contempt by the secretaries, rights managers and spokespersons of women of the left-wing parties”.
According to the two feminist organisations, many leaders on the Left “show so much ambiguity towards such a blatant violation of human rights and children’s rights” and “side with the reproduction industry, which reduces mothers and children to commodities”.
“Unfortunately, even the debate that preceded yesterday’s vote in the Senate makes anyone who still hopes that the Left sides with the exploited and defenceless instead of with the cruellest face of capitalism drop its arms,” they claimed.
The LGBTQI community was against the bill and there was a so-called rainbow family rally against the bill, supported by some elements on the Left.
But supporters of the bill say LGBTQI people can access foster care and ask to be able to adopt or use the practice of self-insemination, without businessmen, without clinics or lawyers.
Rad Fem Italia and the Network for the Inviolability of the Female Body note that the surrogacy contract, often contracts between poor women and rich people, can have extreme requirements, like the forced sedation of the women who had the child in order not to annoy the clients when they take the baby.
Commercial surrogacy is largely banned across Europe, as it is seen as a form of body commodification, similar to organ trafficking. When allowed, it is only altruistic surrogacy which limits reimbursement to expenses.
The surrogacy market, valued at $14 billion in 2022, is projected to skyrocket to $129 billion by 2032, according to Global Market Insights.
Before the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine was a global surrogacy hub, where poor women from Eastern Europe tried to earn money, Fortune reported.
