ROME (AP) – Italy’s parliament gave final approval Tuesday to tough new rules restricting fertility treatments to heterosexual couples who live together and are of childbearing age.
The law, which will go into effect once the president signs it, also bars egg or sperm donation, as well as the use of surrogate mothers, and rules out treatment for gays, single people and elderly women.
It forbids freezing embryos for use at a later date – including after a spouse has died – and says no more than three embryos can be created at one time and all must be implanted in a woman’s womb.
The bill was passed in the Chamber of Deputies 277 to 222, with three deputies abstaining. The Senate approved it in December.
Two women from a Communist party wore white masks to protest as their colleagues voted.
The legislation also outlaws experiments on embryos, such as cloning or tinkering with their genetic makeup.
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Well at least this law is better than what was allowed before. The reason they want to implant multiple embryos is the hope that at least one survives, so even with only three they expect two to die. At least embryos will no longer be kept in cold storage and they have totally prohibited research on these unborn lives. Perfection would be the total banning of IVF, but at least this is progress in the Culture of Death.
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I have always been horrified at the thought of all those little lives being frozen on a shelf somewhere. What are people thinking? I think this law is a sign of hope.