Italy’s Constitutional Court says 2 mothers can register as parents on birth certificates
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/05/2025 (200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
ROME (AP) — Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that two women can register as parents of a child on a birth certificate, saying recognition of parental rights can’t be restricted to the biological mother alone in families with same-sex parents.
The court ruled that it was unconstitutional for city registrars to deprive children born to same sex-parents of recognition by both the biological mother and the woman who consented to the medically assisted pregnancy of her partner and assumed parental responsibilities.
Advocates for LGBTQ+ rejoiced at the ruling, saying it was a “historic day for civil rights in Italy.”
“At last what we have been saying all along is being recognized: boys and girls have the right to see both parents recognized, from birth, even when they are two mothers,” Rainbow Families said in a statement.
The group said the ruling served as a reminder to politicians that constitutionally, it’s “no longer possible to continue pretending that we do not exist.”
The association Pro Life and Family denounced the ruling as illogical and meant thousands of children born to same-sex parents were launched into “an existential joke.”
In recent years, some city registrars had begun to record only the name of the biological mother on birth certificates, and not the name of her partner. In order to have legal rights and responsibility over the child, the non-biological mother then had to adopt the child.
A 2004 law had provided for such limited parental recognition. But thanks to an Interior Ministry circular in 2023, the restrictions were being enforced anew as part of the policy of the far-right-led government of Premier Giorgia Meloni to crack down on surrogacy and promote traditional family values.
The ruling doesn’t address the legality of medically assisted procreation: Italy has strong restrictions on IVF and has had a ban on surrogacy since 2004. Last year, Italy expanded the ban to criminalize Italians who go abroad to have children through surrogacy.