Italy’s Salvini requests decade prison sentences over surrogacy
Date
6/26/2024 8:43:57 AM
(MENAFN) In a contentious move within Italy's Political landscape, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini's right-wing League Party has intensified efforts to strengthen penalties for surrogacy, proposing drastic amendments to existing legislation. Surrogacy has been illegal in Italy since 2004, with stringent punishments in place, yet Salvini and his party seek to further criminalize the practice, aligning with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's initiative to expand bans on Italian couples seeking surrogacy abroad.
Under current laws supported by Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, individuals engaging in surrogacy face significant fines and imprisonment. The proposed legislation aims to escalate these penalties, raising fines from EUR600,000 to EUR1 million and increasing jail terms from three months to two years. However, Salvini's League Party has gone further, presenting an amendment to the Senate Justice Commission advocating for a maximum prison sentence of ten years and a fine of EUR2 million. Moreover, the amendment calls for penalizing public officials involved in registering children born through surrogacy.
Salvini has been a vocal opponent of surrogacy, characterizing surrogate mothers as akin to "ATM-women" who produce babies and condemning the practice as "barbarous and inhumane." He reiterated these sentiments recently, asserting that surrogacy equates to the commodification of children.
The legislative debate, spurred by Meloni's initial bill and now complicated by Salvini's proposed amendments, underscores deep-seated divisions within Italian society over reproductive rights and ethical considerations surrounding surrogacy. As the Senate deliberates on these measures, the outcome will not only shape Italy's legal framework but also reflect broader societal attitudes towards family formation and reproductive technologies in Europe.
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