A total of 6,000 amendments have
been filed to the government's civil unions bill which goes to
the Senate floor on January 28, sources said Friday.
The rightwing opposition Northern League (LN) announced
yesterday it had filed over 5,000 amendments.
Silvio Berlusconi's center-right opposition Forza Italia
(FI) party filed 300 amendments.
Senators from the ruling Democratic Party (PD) filed some
60 amendments, with nine of them coming from the Catholic wing
of the PD.
Most of the opposition as well as Catholics within the
ruling majority object to the so-called stepchild adoption
measure in the bill, which would allow gays to adopt their
partners' biological children.
On Wednesday, a group of Catholic members of Premier Matteo
Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) filed an amendment extending the
punishment against surrogate parenthood to Italians who engage
in this procedure abroad.
It states that "anyone who, in order to become mother or
father, uses the practice of surrogate maternity is punished
with a prison term of from three months to two years and with a
fine of from 600,000 euros to one million euros".
The amendment adds that Italians who have children
overseas are obliged to swear that the birth came about without
the used of surrogate maternity.
It also states that "whoever organises, aids or publicises
surrogate maternity should be punished a prison term of from six
to 12 years and with a fine of from 600,000 euros to one million
euros".
Renzi and the PD leadership have been calling for speedy
passage of the bill, as it would bring Italy in line with the
rest of Europe.
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