Italy passed a law on Wednesday that criminalizes seeking surrogacy abroad, a move the country’s conservative government said would protect women’s dignity, while critics see it as yet another crackdown by the government on L.G.B.T. families, as the law will make it virtually impossible for gay fathers to have children.
Surrogacy is already illegal in Italy. But the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to broaden the ban to punish Italians who seek it in countries where it is legal, like in parts of the United States.
Analysts saw the legislation as a way for Ms. Meloni to assert her conservative credentials and appeal to her political base, which disproportionately opposes surrogacy and adoption by gay couples. Italy, home to the Vatican, already ranks low in Europe when it comes to civil liberties, and Italian critics say that by imposing further restrictions on gay families, Ms. Meloni has taken a particularly hard line.
Even before it passed, the law had plunged gay families into panic. Now, they feel even more in danger, since under the new law they could be subject to prison sentences and large fines if they seek a surrogate birth abroad.
“It’s like a truck hitting us in the face,” said Pierre Molena, who, with his partner, has embarked on the long path of pursuing a family through surrogacy abroad.
“We are worried about our future and that of our children,” he said.
While some senators on Wednesday rejected assertions that the law was homophobic or specifically targeted the gay community, Carolina Varchi, who introduced the anti-surrogacy bill, wrote on Facebook this summer that with the legislation, her party was working against L.G.B.T. “ideology.”
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