Pregnancy for others, in any form, is now a crime even if you go abroad

Definitive yes from Parliament to make gestation for others a universal crime, even in the hypothesis that it is in solidarity form.

• The bill that makes pregnancy for others a universal crime has been definitively approved.
• Gpa is already banned in Italy, the government's objective was that it should also be banned abroad.
• Last year, solidarity-based, non-profit surrogacy was also rejected in the Chamber.

More than a year later, the Senate also voted in favor of the bill which extends the crime of maternity surrogacy, already foreseen in Italy with penalties ranging from imprisonment (from three months to two years) to fines of between 600 thousand and one million euros, also to cases in which the pregnancy for others takes place abroad on behalf of Italian citizens, even in countries where the practice is legal.The entire majority voted in favor, with 84 yes, while the votes against were 58.

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Italy reiterates its own no to gestation for others (gpa), the practice more commonly known as surrogate motherhood, or even more vulgarly uterus for rent. A practice that has actually already been banned in our country since 2004, but with the bill first signed by the deputy Carolina Varchi of Fratelli d'Italia the majority aims to make it a universal crime, i.e. prosecutable even if committed abroad.Yesterday, 26 July, the Chamber gave its first favorable opinion on the tightening of the rule:a result that all in all was taken for granted, because in the majority at this time there was great unity.However, it was less obvious that the opposition would split supportive pregnancy for others, that is, the possibility of carrying a pregnancy to term for others without profit.

Pregnancy for others is already prohibited in Italy

Already today, the law on assisted procreation provides that "whoever, in any form, carries out, organizes or advertises surrogacy is punished with imprisonment from three months to two years and with a fine from 600 thousand to one million euros".But in recent months the government had already stopped the transcriptions to the municipality of the birth certificates of children of same-parent families:the most striking case was that of Prosecutor's Office of Padua, who at the end of June challenged the birth certificates of 33 children of same-parent couples registered by the mayor from 2017 to today.

In fact, a campaign had thus begun aimed precisely at hindering the use of surrogacy abroad, where it is permitted in several countries:among these, the most popular are Greece, Albania, Georgia, the Czech Republic, before the war Ukraine and Russia, and then Mexico, Guatemala, India, Nepal, but also "rich" countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Canada, the United States:Depending on the country and the structure you are addressing, the overall cost of a surrogacy varies from 50 thousand to 200 thousand euros or more.

Carolina Varchi, on the day of the Chamber's first yes to her proposal, reiterated that in her opinion it is in fact an "aberrant practice, which undermines the foundations of social relations".And regarding the issue of missing transcriptions he assured:“There is no discrimination and no rights violated:every child has a biological parent, who can register their child at the registry office.Decades and decades of feminism to endorse a practice whereby a woman is transformed into a sort of oven...".

The no to supportive gestation for others

But the other case, as mentioned, concerned the so-called supportive pregnancy for others.It was foreseen by an amendment presented by Riccardo Magi, of PiùEuropa, inspired by an old proposal ofLuca Coscioni Associations, the same one that fights for the legalization of euthanasia and, more generally, for the self-determination of the person:it could be a solution to overcome the right ethical dilemma linked to the commercialization of pregnancy and the exploitation of women in conditions of poverty, and somehow forced to "rent" their uterus.“We are convinced that the alternative to this legal opprobrium and the regulation of solidarity gestation for others, which is what already happens in many advanced democracies – Magi said in the chamber -.Italian society has moved forward, and it is necessary to govern and regulate these situations:this is the way to fight clandestinity and prohibition, which lead to exploitation."

If obviously Magi's proposal did not find success with the centre-right majority, what happened in the opposition also caused a sensation:only the Alleanza Verdi Sinistra group expressed itself in favor, but with the notable exception of group leader, Luana Zanella: “This is a great mystification – said Zanella – because around the alleged generosity of a woman who offers herself for a pregnancy, there is profit on the part of all the subjects involved, in particular the agencies that also act at a European level as a real productive sector, in which women are exploited for their productive capacity".

A completely respectable personal position, but which for one day created a real political short circuit:one of the most left-wing members of Parliament vigorously applauded by the right and attacked, for example, by Alessandro Zan, the 'father' of the never-born law against homotransphobia, who defined his colleague's speech as "reactionary".

This article was first published on July 27, 2023