Italy’s Battle Over Birth Certificates Is a War on Surrogacy – The American Spectator

Since her election last year, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been under fire from the Left for what it deems her “far right” positions on traditional family values — namely, that she has them. So, it is no surprise that the left-wing international media has attacked her for what should have been an uncontroversial demand on the courts.

Meloni informed Italian courts that they would be required to ensure that a child’s birth certificate reflected biological reality; therefore, only a child’s biological parents should appear on that child’s birth certificate. The international gay lobby has, of course, raised a ruckus, calling the demand “homophobic” because both members of a gay couple will not automatically be listed as a child’s parents on legal documentation.

To hear the leftist media relate the story, one might assume that Meloni is attacking children for the “sins” of their parents by denying them participation in society or, worse, putting their lives in jeopardy. The move, the Left claims, is a grave violation of “human rights.”

It tends to bury the fact that the demand is part of enforcing Italy’s laws against surrogacy, a practice that violates human rights.

Surrogacy in Italy and Around the World

Just this week, the Guardian published a piece detailing the reaction among gay couples in Italy. Hyperbolically, it argues that the children have been “orphaned by decree” and essentially frame the issue as an attack on homosexuals by a “hardline traditionalist who has long reiterated her view that a child should only be raised by heterosexual parents.” It isn’t until well past halfway into the article that the Guardian cares to bring up surrogacy.

Italy is just one of seven countries that have banned the practice of surrogacy, arguing that it commodifies and devalues human life. In recent years, it has become increasingly popular for gay couples (especially men) to essentially rent out a woman’s womb to carry a child to term.

The Illinois Center for Surrogacy advertises the process by claiming it as a way for gay “families” to access “family-building opportunities.”

“By using an egg donor and gestational surrogate, one or more male partner[s] can be genetically related to their child(ren) by donating the sperm that will be used to fertilize the egg(s),” the center’s website reads. (READ MORE: ‘No Egg? No Sperm? No Problem,’ Promises IVG)

For just $80,000, you can purchase a child.

Of course, the Catholic Italian Bishops’ Conference condemned the practice, stating in March that it is “unacceptable.” The council’s secretary general, Cagliari Archbishop Giuseppe Baturi, commented, “As the Pope said, there is a risk of the commodification of women, especially the poorest women, and of transforming the child into an object of a contract.”

The fact that surrogacy is illegal in Italy hasn’t stopped gay couples from traveling abroad to countries like the United States and Ukraine. The international surrogate market has been growing at an unprecedented rate. In 2022, the global market was worth $175.79 million in USD, and that number’s likely to rise to $303.35 million in USD by 2031.

To limit so-called “fertility tourism,” Meloni has proposed that the country also ban Italians from participating in the international fertility market. According to the Guardian, “[T]he Italian parliament recently approved a bill that sets out fines of up to €1m (£855,000) [$1.08 million] and prison sentences of up to two years for Italians who go abroad to have children via surrogacy.”

Correcting Birth Certificates

The Italian government has begun taking measures to discourage gay couples from seeking surrogacy as an option. Specifically, it’s correcting birth certificates.

Over the last few years, a handful of Italian cities and municipalities, including Milan, have told gay couples that they could include two individuals of the same gender on a child’s birth certificate, regardless of biological relation.

Meloni’s demand has effectively reversed those decisions. Not only will the non-gestational member of a gay couple not be listed as the child’s biological parent, but a state prosecutor has also declared that 33 birth certificates be retroactively altered to reflect the policy.

The Left has predictably reacted by claiming that the demand threatens the routines — and even the lives — of children in gay “families.”

“The second of the two fathers or mothers cannot do practically anything from taking the child to the doctor or picking them up from school, without the authorization of the legal parent,” Angelo Schillaci, law professor at Sapienza University of Rome, told the Guardian. “Even with authorisation, for example, they can’t make healthcare decisions related to saving the child’s life.” (READ MORE: ‘Fertility Equality’ Is the Next Frontier for California’s Civil Rights Regime)

What the argument doesn’t recognize, however, is that listing the “parents” of surrogate children on birth certificates has never been permitted in Italy — something both gay and heterosexual couples have been working to change, although unsuccessfully.

In June, the European Court of Human Rights ruled between a series of gay and heterosexual couples and the Italian government that “the couples also had the option to adopt their children but did not do so.” The court ultimately rejected the appeal.

Meloni’s crackdown on surrogacy within Italy is more than justified. The process cheapens children and turns the miracle of life into something to be bought and sold. Rather than attacking human rights, Meloni is protecting them — something the Left will never admit.