House judiciary committee OKs universal crime of surrogacy

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 31 - The Lower House judiciary committee on Wednesday approved a bill making surrogacy a universal crime.
    Under an amendment presented by the centre-right majority, gestation for others would be punishable by law even if committed abroad, but only for Italian citizens.
    The bill should be sent to the assembly next week following approval by the other relevant committees.
    Surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy, has become a hot topic under the right-ring government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy (FdI) party presented the bill that would prosecute Italians who resort to using surrogate mothers in countries like Spain and the US where it is legal, making it a "universal crime".
    FdI has said that gestation for others is "worse than paedophilia".
    In March the government drew criticism from the opposition and rights activists after it instructed city mayors to stop registering the children of same-sex couples using a procedure based on the transcription into Italian civic registers of the foreign birth certificates of children conceived via surrogacy or assisted fertility, which is only available to heterosexual couples in Italy, citing a ruling by the Court of Cassation, Italy's highest court.
    centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) Secretary Elly Schlein has said she is personally in favour of surrogacy.
    (ANSA).