Italy prohibits foreign surrogacy for all residents due to decreasing birthrate: "A child is always a blessing."

The Italian Senate has passed a bill criminalizing citizens who travel abroad for surrogate mothers. The bill extends an original ban put in place in 2004 and was promoted by right-wing parties. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who leads the Brothers of Italy party, has called surrogacy "a symbol of an abominable society that confuses desire with rights and replaces God with money." Supporters of the bill claim it protects women's dignity, while opponents have called it discriminatory toward same-sex couples.

Italian citizens who seek surrogate mothers in countries where the practice is legal will face penalties of up to $1.1 million in fines and two years in jail under the bill.

Pope Francis has condemned commercial surrogacy worldwide, calling it "deplorable" and a violation of the dignity of the woman and child. The Vatican does not deny children born through surrogate mothers sacraments like baptism. The European nation's pivot toward conservatism has led to a staggering drop in illegal immigration. Pope Francis asserted that a "child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract." Opponents of the Italian surrogacy ban claim that the bill hurts same-sex couples who want families. Italy is currently facing a record-low birthrate at 1.2 children per woman recorded in 2023. Italy, Spain, France, and Germany all ban surrogacy outright, while the UK allows for surrogates to be compensated within a reasonable amount of their regular expenses. Commercial surrogacy is not regulated by the federal government in the United States.

In the US, surrogate mothers may give birth to children whose birth certificates bear the names of the client couple, and these children are usually taken away from their birth mothers right away.

The surrogacy ban applies equally to all couples, but only those in heterosexual marriages are legally able to adopt children in Italy. The Italian government has banned same-sex marriage. Activists with the LGBTQ movement protested before the Italian Senate in opposition to the new law, with some banners reading, "Parents, not criminals." A Special Rapporteur for the United Nations wrote in a 2018 report that commercial surrogacy, as currently practiced in some countries, usually amounts to the sale of children. The Associated Press contributed to this report.