Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says she supports a bill that would make surrogacy a "universal crime" Surrogacy is already illegal in Italy but, by making it a universal crime, the bill would make it possible to prosecute Italians who resort to using surrogate mothers in countries like Spain and the US. Pope Francis has also repeatedly criticized surrogacy and the Vatican said in a new document on human dignity that it wants to see a " universal" ban on the practice.
The focus of Friday's conference was on reversing declining birth rates, an issue that Meloni said is an "absolute priority" for her government. The bill, which is now before the Senate, would punish involvement in surrogacy with fines of up to one million euros ($860,000), as well as two year jail terms. It would also make it illegal to use a surrogate mother in the US, where the practice is legal, and to use one in Spain, where it is legal. It is also possible to use surrogacy to give birth to children in other countries, such as the UK.