A nurse and newborns are seen in the Hotel Venice in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 14, 2020, which is owned by BioTexCom, a surrogacy agency. Surrogacy is among more than a dozen issues covered by a new Vatican document on human dignity. Photo: OSV News/Gleb Garanich, Reuters The Italian Senate of the Republic last week passed a bill making it possible to prosecute surrogacy sought even outside Italy, with violators potentially facing both prison time and a fine as high as €1 million.
Surrogacy has been illegal in Italy since 2004. The prohibition is contained within the country’s Law 40, which regulates medically assisted procreation.
With the October 16 vote, Italy will amend Law 40 to extend its jurisdiction to criminalise even surrogacy “committed abroad”, now referring to it as “universal crime” in Italian law.
The current article 12, paragraph 6 of Law 40 states that “anyone who, in any form, carries out, organises, or publicises the commercialisation” of maternal surrogacy will be punished by up to two years in prison and a fine of €600,000 to €1 million.