Italy Criminalizes Seeking Surrogacy Abroad

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attends a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on Nov. 22, 2023. Michele Tantussi/Getty Images

Italy has extended its long-standing ban on surrogacy beyond its borders, to include Italian citizens traveling to countries where surrogacy is legal, such as the United States and Canada.

In Italy, surrogacy—defined as when a woman carries a pregnancy and gives birth to a baby for someone else—has been punishable under law since 2004.

On Oct. 16, Italy’s parliament voted in favor of a bill—proposed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party—that extends the scope of the previous legislation.

‘Surrogacy Tourism’

Those who seek surrogacy abroad now face jail terms of up to two years and fines of up to 1 million euros (about $1.08 million).

The upper house Senate voted 84–58 to pass into law the bill proposed by the Brothers of Italy party. The bill was already approved by the lower house last year.

“Motherhood is absolutely unique, it absolutely cannot be surrogated, and it is the foundation of our civilization,” Brothers of Italy Sen. Lavinia Mennuni said during the parliamentary debate.

“We want to uproot the phenomenon of surrogacy tourism.”

Industry

According to a study, the global surrogacy industry has been increasing. The industry had a value of $14 billion in 2022. It increased to $17.9 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $139 billion by 2032.

Spain, France, and Germany have prohibited all forms of surrogacy.

In Canada, only altruistic surrogacy is permitted, which means that surrogates cannot be paid more than out-of-pocket expenses, although the law in Canada does not define what these are, and some claim that payments can reach up to $85,000.

The UK also allows altruistic surrogacy, but it is heavily regulated. While it is not illegal to pay a surrogate there, it is a criminal offense for third parties to receive payment for arranging surrogacy. Agreements made between intended parents and surrogates are not enforceable by law.

Under California law, it is legal to pay a surrogate to carry a child as long as a surrogacy agreement is in place before conception.

Ukraine was, until the Russia–Ukraine war, an international surrogacy hub, involving thousands of babies—many of them taken abroad—each year, according to some estimates.

Catholic

Although Italy is a secular state, it is predominantly Catholic, with the Vatican often influencing policy on moral and social issues.

Earlier this year, Meloni called surrogacy an “inhuman” practice that treated children as supermarket products.

“No one can convince me that it is an act of freedom to rent one’s womb; no one can convince me that it is an act of love to consider children as an over-the-counter product in a supermarket,” she said at an event in Rome in April.

“I still consider the practice of uterus renting to be inhuman; I support the proposed law making it a universal crime.”

In January, Pope Francis called for a global ban on parenting via surrogacy.

LGBT

Some Italian LGBT campaigners criticized the law and have been demonstrating near the Senate, claiming that the legislation affects only gay couples.

“If someone has a baby, they should be given a medal. Here instead you are sent to jail ... if you don’t have children in the traditional way,” Franco Grillini, a long-time activist within the LGBT community in Italy, said at the demonstration.

Alessia Crocini, president of Rainbow Families, called the law a “right-wing crusade against civil rights and family pluralism.”

She said 90 percent of Italians who choose surrogacy are heterosexual couples but, in theory, they do so in secret, while gay couples cannot hide it.

Crocini said Italy’s birth rates are now at record lows, so much so that it is considered a national emergency.

“We are facing yet another ideological law that aims to limit people’s self-determination and the formation of new families, a gift to Pro-life associations and fanatical religious associations that support this government, within an international network that goes from Trump to Orban, passing through Putin,” she said.

Reuters contributed to this report.