Surrogacy humiliates women, is an illegal commercial activity and the selection of parents is racist, according to Family Affairs Minister Eugenia Roccella, who declared zero tolerance for the practice in an interview with Il Mattino daily on Monday.
At the same time as the minister's statement, the debate began in the Roman parliament on the right-wing government's draft law, which would declare surrogacy a so-called universal crime.
Surrogacy undertaken for financial compensation, as well as its advertising and promotion, are currently classified as a crime by Italian legislation if it takes place on the territory of the country. The proposal of the governing parties would also declare surrogacy used abroad as a crime.
According to Eugenia Roccella, there is currently excessive tolerance surrounding the practice of surrogacy, which is why the legislation needs to be tightened. The minister responsible for family and birth policy and equal opportunities emphasized that he considers surrogacy to be racist. He voiced that
surrogate mothers are selected according to their race and skin color: "a tall, beautiful, blonde, often Eastern European woman costs more than a black woman"
he declared.
He added that surrogacy operates as a commercial activity on the Internet, but they also organize international fairs with catalogs. He noted that the users of the service pay a significant amount, of which only a fraction reaches the surrogate mothers.
Surrogacy humiliates women and deprives children of basic rights, including the provision of one biological parent, said Eugenia Roccella.
The minister called the decision of some left-wing mayors illegal to include the names of two parents when registering children raised in a same-sex partnership.
In February, the Ministry of the Interior declared invalid the practice of local governments led by left-wing mayors, according to which, in the case of children of two men or two women, both were declared parents.
The Ministry of the Interior referred to the 2019 decision of the Court of Cassation, which stated that in the case of two men living together, if their child was born abroad with the help of a surrogate mother, only the biological father may be listed as the parent when registering in Italy. Similarly, in the case of two women, only one of them can be considered a parent during the civil registration process.
The Court of Cassation also found that the recognition of the other adult as a parent does not fall within the jurisdiction of local governments, but requires a court decision in each individual case. In spite of all this, the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, announced that the capital will continue to register the children of two Italian women born abroad by indicating two parents.
At the same time, the Roman parliament rejected the introduction of the European paternity certificate initiated by the European Commission in the first reading. The latter would oblige EU member states to recognize a parental relationship established in another member state or the decision about it anywhere within the European Union.
MTI
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