These narratives have also gained hold in Poland, Spain and even progressive Sweden, where politicians who have taken similar lines on surrogacy and LGBTQ+ parental rights have been met with broad support.
“There is this shift in political consensus that has really happened quickly,” said Gunnarsson Payne. “It feels like the '90s was back in Sweden — increased racism, right wing populism and now, these debates [about gender].”
This headline is a bit misleading, there are definitely good reasons to oppose using surrogates, among them the exploitation of women in poor countries.
I agree with you that there needs to be a robust system in place to provide resources and other support for women that feel like surrogacy is one of their only ways to make money. However, the legislation in Italy is targeting LGBTQ families specifically. Right wing/fascist ideology the world over is experiencing a renaissance in support of legislating LGBTQ folk back into the shadows. It’s working, btw.
In Italy, it is already illegal for same-sex couples to adopt. Now they are trying to make surrogacy punishable by jail time, no matter where an Italian citizen goes to do it. Should the government be allowed to tell you that you cannot have a family? If I proposed a law that would effectively outlaw your ability to have a family, would you support that? Is this new law really just to protect women?
Im not supporting the law per se, or claiming that minorities aren’t being further marginalised in a lot of places.
I’m just saying that the title here is a bit misleading, because this law prevents anyone (not just a specific group) from using surrogacy, while the title implies that the law targets a specific group.
So it should be about which countries are doing it right, and which countries shouldn’t be used for surrogacy.
There’s ways to solve for that without opposing the practice altogether.
Surrogacy and, in general, parenthood by LGBT couples is a highly divisive theme where legislation should be extremely cautious since no long-term impacts are available and there is no evidence that they have a positive effect on society. Nonetheless, using them against minorities to justify extreme right wing propaganda and unite against a “common enemy” doesn’t do any good either (and in this case there is clear evidence of where this is leading). I wonder what would happen if LGBT people stopped paying taxes and/or care about their societal duties since they don’t have equal rights.
