Objective: 50 thousand subscriptions in 6 months. Today, thanks to the Coscioni Association and dozens of other associations, the collection of signatures to eliminate one of the last prohibitions of law 40 of 2004 which concerns single women and couples starts today.
To date, in fact, in Italy heterology is legal even for de facto couples who were once excluded, but it is still forbidden for single women to be able to access the sperm bank and become mothers. A ban that forces hundreds of single women every year to carry out MAP in countries where it is legal, Spain first of all.
Today the front that is still open is article 5 – writes the Coscioni Association in a note. That rule allows access to the PMA only to heterosexual couples, adults, married or cohabiting, and excludes by law single women and female couples. It is discrimination based on marital status, which also produces economic inequality: those who can afford it go abroad, those who cannot remain excluded.
What is being asked for, therefore, is a modification of Article 5 and access to PMA for all women, without discrimination.
To try to change this situation, the Luca Coscioni Association has launched the campaign “PMA for all“, accompanied by a popular initiative bill that aims to modify one of the last prohibitions still present in law 40 of 2004. The objective is to collect at least 50 thousand signatures within six months and bring the text to Parliament.
What does the bill provide?
The proposal intervenes on article 5 of law 40, which today allows access to medically assisted procreation techniques only to adult heterosexual couples, married or cohabiting. The reform calls for this right to also be extended to single women and female couples, eliminating discrimination which, according to the promoters, is no longer justified either on a scientific or legal level.
In fact, over the last twenty years, many of the restrictions originally foreseen by law 40 have been progressively canceled by the Constitutional Court: from the ban on heterologous fertilization to that relating to pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for some categories of couples.
According to the Luca Coscioni Association, Parliament should now also intervene on access to the PMA for those who continue to be excluded today.
The former Italian national footballer also supports the campaign Alia Guagnichosen as testimonial of the initiative. Having become a mother thanks to an assisted fertilization program carried out in Spain, her story represents that of many women who, despite having the desire and conditions to become mothers, find themselves forced to bear economic, organizational and emotional costs to access a right recognized in much of Europe.
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What has been done so far
Finally, according to data released by the Luca Coscioni Association, there are 32 European countries that allow access to medically assisted procreation also to single women. These include: France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. However, Italy remains among the 13 European countries that continue to limit access to heterosexual couples only.
For the promoters of the campaign, the collection of signatures therefore represents a new step towards more inclusive legislation, capable of recognizing equal rights and freedom of choice for all people who wish to build a family, regardless of their marital status or emotional orientation.
You can sign HERE.
