Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on
Friday stressed the government's opposition to surrogacy amid a
row on registering same-sex couple's children in Italy saying
that women's bodies weren't like ovens that bake potatoes.
"A woman cannot be exploited: she is not a cigarette machine. A
woman's womb must not be used to churn out children as if it
were an oven where roast potatoes are baked", Tajani, who is
also deputy premier and No 2 in Silvio Berlusconi's centre right
Forza Italia (FI) party, said on the sidelines of a local
election rally in the northen city of Udine, after the European
Parliament came out for the rights of same-sex families and
their children.
"It is not that women can decide on the uterus for rent," he
added, "one cannot commodify one's own body. To the EU
parliament I answer that the rules are written in Italy: it is
not a question of European competences. The parliament was not
legislating, it gave a majority opinion: if you want to change
the rules you have to change them in Italy".
The European Parliament on Thursday approved an amendment to its
motion for a resolution on the rule of law condemning "the
instructions given by the Italian government to the municipality
of Milan to suspend the registration of adoptions of same-sex
couples."
The amendment was submitted by the Renew Europe group and
supported by the Left, Greens and Socialists.
Milan was recently forced to stop a procedure it had used to
register both members of a same-sex couple as the parents of a
child after the prefect's department warned it was illegal
following consultations with the interior ministry.
The procedure was based on the transcription into the Milan
civil register of foreign birth certificates of children
conceived by surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy, or assisted
fertility, which is only allowed for heterosexual couples here.
Furthermore, Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of
Italy (FdI) party has tabled a bill that would make surrogacy a
"universal crime", meaning that Italians could be prosecuted for
using the practice in foreign States where it is legal.
Many Italian same-sex couples have had children via surrogacy
outside the country.
The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has condemned the
government's actions and said it will fight to pass legislation
protecting the rights of same-sex-parent families.
Milan Mayor Beppe Sala on Wednesday called for all the
opposition parties to form a broad alliance to fight for the
rights of same-sex-parent families
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