Italy Criminalizes Surrogacy Abroad for Same-Sex Couples

metroweekly.com:

The New York Times.Meloni — a single mother who never married the father of her daughter — hypocritically has campaigned on the importance of promoting “traditional family values.”She and her fellow conservatives have railed against “gender ideology” and the “LGBT lobby” at political events, stating that children should only be raised in two-parent, heterosexual households.

Last year, Meloni’s interior minister ordered local governments to stop transcribing certificates of children born abroad through surrogacy, citing a court ruling — which is currently being challenged.As a result, some children with same-sex parents have been denied access to citizenship, public schools, health care, and other benefits and services.Following the interior minister’s decree, prosecutors across Italy began contesting the birth certificates of all children born to same-sex parents — regardless of whether they were conceived through surrogacy or not — with the aim of erasing the names of non-biological parents from those birth certificates.

Under the law, approved on an 84-58 vote in the Italian Senate last on October 16, Italians found to have sought out surrogates in other countries can be sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 1 million euros, or about $1.08 million in U.S.

dollars.While some senators rejected assertions that the law was motivated in part by homophobia, others have been more open about their intent.Senator Carolina Varchi, of the right-wing Brothers of Italy, for instance, wrote publicly in a Facebook post that banning surrogacy was part of a larger fight against “LGBT ideology.” Senator Elena Murelli, of the right-wing League party, called surrogacy a form of “child trade” akin to slavery and added, “You can’t.