Surrogacy compared to sex crime in Italy

  • 07/01/2016
Italy''s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano (Reuters)
Italy''s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano (Reuters)

Surrogate parents are 'like sex offenders' and should be sent to prison, Italy's interior minister has said.

Angelino Alfano told Italy's Avvenire newspaper surrogacy is "the most vile, illegal trade that man has invented", the BBC reports.

The minister also opposes gay rights and unmarried heterosexual couples. Italy is the last major Western nation to deny same-sex couples rights.

Surrogacy is also illegal in Italy, and could end in up to two years in prison.

Mr Alfano's New Centre Right party (NCD) opposes any form of surrogacy because it goes against traditional family values, according to the BBC.

"We want wombs-for-rent to become a universal crime, which is punished with a jail term. Just as happens for sex crimes," he told the Avvenire.

The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi promised to legalise civil unions before the end of 2015, but no action has yet been taken.

The bill is to return to parliament on January 26, with most contention surrounding whether unmarried partners should be allowed to adopt their stepchildren under certain circumstances, BBC reports.

Mr Alfano says this would allow gay couples to seek children via surrogate mothers.

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