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Italian Lawmakers Enact Rules That
Limit Reproductive Rights
December 12, 2003
By REUTERS
ROME, Dec. 11 (Reuters) - Italy's
Senate approved a
contentious law on reproductive rights on Thursday,
banning
the use of donor sperm, eggs or surrogate mothers and
restricting assisted fertilization to "stable"
heterosexual
couples.
The government welcomed the
legislation as finally bringing
the realm of reproduction under the rule of law, but
critics denounced it as "medieval" and said it could
be the
first step toward making abortion illegal.
The law was passed by a wide margin
as some opposition
senators in this predominantly Roman Catholic country
crossed party lines to back the bill drawn up by
Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition.
"This law says `Enough!' to the
abuses and recognizes that
an embryo is a person and as such must be protected
from
the point of conception," said Elisabetta Alberti
Casellati, a senator from Mr. Berlusconi's party,
Forza
Italia.
The bill has been approved by both
houses of Parliament,
although it will now return to the lower house for a
rubber
stamp before becoming law.
Many in Italy, which is the home of
the fertility doctor
Severino Antinori, who helped a 62-year-old woman
give
birth with a donated egg, felt legal restrictions
were
needed.
Under the bill, only infertile
couples can obtain assisted
reproduction, and they cannot use the sperm or eggs
of a
donor or use a surrogate mother.
The couple must be married or provide
evidence of having a
"stable" relationship.
The bill's backers say it guarantees
a child's right to
know who his or her parents are and protects the
embryo.
Embryos resulting from artificial
insemination cannot be
frozen or used for research purposes. Doctors can
only
create up to three embryos during each attempt at
insemination, and all of them must be implanted in
the
potential mother's womb.
Some specialists say three times as
many embryos are
needed.
"We will now be the most backward
country in Europe," said
Gavino Angius, the speaker for the Democrats of the
Left in
the Senate.
An opposition lawmaker, Giovanna
Melandri, has called the
bill "medieval" and "hateful," and even backers of
the
legislation said it could pave the way to making
abortion
illegal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/12/international/europe/12ITAL.html?ex=1072249284&ei=1&en=80b38fa3001f5e60
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