Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni has said surrogacy is inhuman as she wants to make the penalties for it even harsher with fines of up to $1 million and jail time of up to two years.
She believes it’s not fair for a woman to carry a baby for someone else, even if she’s paid for it.
Meloni talked about this at a conference about Italy’s low birth rates. She wants to help families have more babies by making it easier for moms to work and find childcare. She also wants to give families money and tax breaks to help with the cost of raising kids.
Some people think Meloni’s push against surrogacy is targeted at LGBTQ+ couples. Italy only started allowing same-sex unions in 2016, and Meloni’s party is close to the Catholic Church, which doesn’t support same-sex marriage.
Under Meloni’s government, some birth certificates stopped using terms like “parent 1” and “parent 2” and went back to “mother” and “father.” In some places where her party is in charge, they even removed the names of lesbian mothers from birth certificates.
