Progress Educational Trust | May 19, 2025
Italy’s recently enacted ban of surrogacy arrangements, even in countries where surrogacy is legal, has faced criticism from many LGBTQ+ parents and advocates in Italy. They object to the blanket nature of the ban, which affects all surrogacy arrangements, and they raise concerns about the ban stigmatizing LGBTQ+ families.
The Politic | March 31, 2025
Italy’s recent law making surrogacy a “universal crime” in the country may face judicial challenges and scrutiny from the European Union. The law and the response to it raise questions, both about reproductive freedom and about exploitation and vulnerabilities in current surrogacy practices.
The Guardian | March 17, 2025
The Italian parents of a child who was recently born in the US via surrogacy are concerned that if they return to Italy, they will be prosecuted under Italy’s new law, which extended criminalization of surrogacy in Italian law beyond Italy to other countries, including those where the practice is legal.
Modern Diplomacy | October 30, 2024
Surrogacy continues to be banned or restricted in many countries, in part due to concerns related to child welfare and exploitation of surrogates. With shifting social norms related to family structure, some countries are reconsidering their regulation around surrogacy.
These four articles explain the motivations behind and the potential implications of Italy’s ban on surrogacy. Although the law prohibits both heterosexual and LGTBQ couples from seeking surrogacy services abroad, it in effect targets same-sex couples as part of a broader effort of the Italian Prime Minister’s conservative party to limit LGBTQ parentage rights.
Italy criminalizes surrogacy abroad in move slammed as ‘medieval’ by critics
CNN | October 19, 2024
‘Inhumane and wicked’: anguish over Italy’s expanded surrogacy ban
The Guardian | October 25, 2024
Italy makes it illegal to seek surrogacy abroad
Reuters | October 16, 2024
Italy Criminalizes Surrogacy From Abroad, a Blow to Gay and Infertile Couples
The New York Times | October 16, 2024
The New York Times | October 16, 2024
Italy’s Parliament passed a law banning couples from traveling abroad to have a child through surrogacy, even to countries where surrogacy is legal. The law is part of a broader ongoing crackdown by Italy’s far-right government to limit legal parentage rights of LGTBQ people.
Reuters | October 16, 2024
The upper house Senate of Italy’s Parliament voted in favor of a bill that will make it illegal for couples to travel abroad to have a baby through surrogacy arrangements. The law is part of a broader effort of the Italian Prime Minister’s “Brothers of Italy” party to prevent LGBTQ people in Italy from being recognized as legal parents.
ANSA | July 3, 2024
Italy’s right-wing government is advancing a bill to make surrogacy a universal crime. An amendment introduced in the Senate proposed punishments of 4-10 years in prison for using surrogates along with hefty fines.
Progress Educational Trust BioNews | April 15, 2024
A recently published Vatican document states that surrogacy violates both the dignity of children and of those who bear them, but many LBGTQ families who have formed families via surrogacy have critiqued the document’s framing of the practice.
CNN | April 13, 2024
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing political party is supporting harsher penalties for surrogacy, part of the party’s ongoing effort to limit the rights of LBGTQ families.
