Chambers, clash over adoptions, end-of-life and surrogacy

In Parliament there is a battle on ethical issues, with the majority and opposition divided on surrogacy, adoption rights for same-sex couples and end-of-life. "I still consider surrogacy to be an inhuman practice, I support the bill for it to become a universal crime. I hope it will be approved as soon as possible'. This is what Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said a few weeks ago, referring to the text by Fdi (first signatory Maria Carolina Varchi), passed last July by the Chamber of Deputies and being examined by the Senate Justice Committee, which extends the ban on surrogacy (contained in Law 40/2004 on assisted procreation), introducing the obligation for magistrates to prosecute an Italian citizen even in the case of an offence committed abroad, in countries where surrogacy is permitted. The ban in Italy (imprisonment of three months to two years and a fine of 600,000 to one million euro) has in fact led many to resort to surrogacy practices abroad. In this context, the proposal by the leader of the League's group in the Senate, Massimiliano Romeo, which is also being examined by the Justice Committee, differs only in that it tightens the penalties for the crime of surrogacy (to be prosecuted not only in Italy but also abroad), with imprisonment from four to ten years and a fine of 600 thousand to two million euro.

Of an entirely different tenor are the opposition's bills, on which, however, examination has not yet begun. Texts that, without prejudice to the ban on the 'commercialisation of motherhood' considered a crime under the law, propose paths of 'solidarity motherhood'. The most recent one (presented last March), signed by Maria Domenica Castellone (M5s), clarifies that 'solidarity and altruistic pregnancy for others' means 'a path of assisted fertilisation without payment, in which the pregnant woman undertakes to house an embryo obtained through in-vitro fertilisation techniques in her uterus'. The request can be made 'by single persons or couples, whether married, cohabiting or civilly united, who are between 18 and 50 years of age and cannot carry a pregnancy or bring it to term for medical/physiological reasons' or 'in the case of couples formed by persons of the same sex'. Along the same lines are the proposals presented in the Senate by Ivan Scalfarotto (Iv) and in the Chamber by Riccardo Magi (+Europa).

Another 'hot' topic is that of adoptions, with 15 texts in committee (11 in the House and 4 in the Senate), but all of them at the 'pole'. While the centre-right's legislative initiative aims to unbureaucratise the current legislation, the opposition's (13 proposals) aims instead, for the most part, to introduce the right to adoption for singles and same-sex couples. In the Chamber, Paolo Trancassini's (Fdi) text, among other things, reduces from three to two years the marriage duration period for parents wishing to adopt. The proposal by Leghist Massimiliano Panizzut, focused on the 'simplification and acceleration of adoption procedures', both national and international, moves in the same direction. On the other hand, the PD has presented two identical texts, one in the Senate (first signatory Cecilia D'Elia) and one in the Chamber of Deputies (first signatories Alessandro Zan and Elly Schlein), which in addition to amending some provisions of the civil code to adapt them to the principle of egalitarian marriage, protect the parental bonds of girls and boys with same-sex parents. In this sense, adoption is allowed for singles, as well as for 'cohabitants for at least three years, spouses who have been married for at least three years, and parties to civil unions formed for at least three years'. They aim to introduce same-sex marriage and to establish for all couples the same requirements and the same effects on adoption, two identical texts by Avs, one in Palazzo Madama (Giuseppe De Cristofaro) and another in Montecitorio (Marco Grimaldi). As well as the proposal of the deputy, also from Avs, Luana Zanella, that of Action (Giulia Pastorella, Chamber) and Iv (Ivan Scalfarotto, Senate). As well as that of M5s, first signatory the former mayor of Turin Chiara Appendino. On the subject of adoption, the text by MP Emma Pavanelli (M5s) regulates, among other things, access to information on the identity of the parents by the adopted child.

There are numerous proposals that aim to regulate the end of life, a subject on which the Constitutional Court has intervened on two occasions (Ordinance 207 of 2018 and judgement 242 of 2019) ruling on the case of Dj Fabo and Marco Cappato: the Constitutional Court has declared that aiding suicide is not punishable if it concerns a purpose, formed autonomously and freely, of a person kept alive by life-support treatments and affected by an irreversible pathology, source of intolerable physical or psychological suffering but capable of making free and conscious decisions. In the Senate, five bills (four from the opposition, one from Forza Italia) are being examined by the joint committees of Justice and Health. The proposal whose first signatory is PD senator Bazoli, signed by all the minority forces, follows the indications of the constitutional judges. The blue one (first signatory Adriano Paroli), on the other hand, maintains the punishability of the crime and provides for reduced penalties if the person facilitating the suicide intention is a cohabitant. In the Chamber of Deputies the texts on the end of life only come from the opposition: the most recent texts are those presented in January by Dem Zan (procedure not yet started) and by the Avs group, which takes up the popular initiative proposal of the Veneto Region drafted by the Luca Coscioni association. The text has been assigned to the Justice and Social Affairs committees, where the other proposals on the same subject are to be found, which bear the signatures of PD deputy Debora Serracchiani, Gilda Sportiello (M5S), Riccardo Magi (+Europa) and Enrico Costa (Azione). The last three were presented on 13 October 2022, the first day of the legislature.