Couples are not allowed to travel abroad to find a surrogate mother

Italy has made it illegal for couples to go abroad to have a child through surrogacy.

This move extends the ban on this practice in the country to those who seek out this practice in places where it is legal, such as the US or Canada. Those who break the law face a prison sentence of up to two years and fines of up to €1 million (£835,710).

The law, proposed by Italy’s far-right ruling party, is seen by critics as a target for LGBT couples, who are barred from adopting or using IVF in the country.

Surrogacy occurs when a woman becomes pregnant by another couple or individual, usually because of fertility problems or because they are men in a same-sex relationship.

The law was passed by 84 votes to 58 in the Italian Senate on Wednesday.

In a protest ahead of the election, opponents of the law said it would make it harder for people to become parents – despite the country’s declining birth rate.

“If someone has a baby, they should get a medal,” LGBT activist Franco Grillini told Reuters during the demonstration.

“Instead, if you don’t have children in the traditional way, you’ll be sent to prison.

“This is a monstrous law. No country in the world has anything like it.”

The move is part of the socially conservative agenda Giorgia Meloni – Italy’s first female Prime Minister and leader of the Brothers of Italy party.

She has described herself as a Christian mother and believes that children should only be raised by a man and a woman.

Meloni has previously spoken out against surrogacy involving LGBT couples, and anti-LGBT rhetoric was a key feature of her election campaign.

In a speech in 2022, she said “yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby”.

In 2023, her government ordered Milan’s city council to do so stop registering children of same-sex parents.

Meloni has described surrogacy as “a symbol of a horrible society that confuses desire with rights and replaces God with money.”

Her deputy, Matteo Salvini, has also called the practice an “aberration,” treating women like an “cash machine.”

The MP who drafted the ban on Wednesday previously denied it was intended to harm LGBT people: “Most people who use surrogacy are heterosexual.”

It would “protect women and their dignity,” Carolina Varchi said.

Experts told the BBC that 90% of couples using 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 cannot hide in the same way.

LGBT couples previously told the BBC this their fears around the law.