US ‘concerned’ for citizens after Meloni’s surrogacy ban in Italy

ROME — The United States State Department fears Americans in Italy could run afoul of the law after Rome last week criminalized the use of surrogates. 
While surrogacy is already banned in Italy, around 250 couples a year travel abroad to have a baby through a surrogate.
But PM Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government on Oct. 17 passed legislation making the use of surrogates a universal crime in Italy — meaning that people who have used a surrogate anywhere in the world could be fined up to €1 million or jailed for up to two years. 
The change, which honors an election promise made by Meloni’s coalition, has been criticized by the political left and LGBTQ+ rights groups as inhumane and discriminatory. Supporters of the law, meanwhile, say surrogacy exploits poor women and denies children the right to grow up with their birth mothers. 
Washington fears that the parents of American citizens born through surrogacy and living in Italy might not be recognized as parents, or could have less legal protection. 
“Following this new law, the U.S. is concerned about what will happen to U.S. citizens in Italy born through surrogacy arrangements. Children whose legal parents are not recognized are left without important legal protections,” a State Department spokesperson told Italian daily La Repubblica.
“The United States will continue to promote a world free from discrimination, so that members of every family and all people, including LGBTQI+, can live with dignity and respect for their human rights.” 
The comments mark a rare source of tension between the governments of Meloni and U.S. President Joe Biden, as mutual relations have so far been warm.
Illiberal Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, meanwhile, expressed appreciation for the surrogacy ban in a Tuesday phone call with Meloni. According to a statement from his office, Erdoğan thanked Meloni “for having defended the values of the traditional family, threatened by the ascendance of LGBT groups.”