Most who seek surrogacy overseas, which is now punishable by jail terms and fines, are heterosexual couples

Maria Sole Giardini was campaigning outside the Italian parliament in 2021 for surrogacy to be legalised when she encountered Giorgia Meloni.

The current prime minister’s Brothers of Italy party, in opposition at the time, was frantically drumming up support for a bill to extend Italy’s outright ban on domestic surrogacy by making it a universal crime that transcends borders.