The decision overturns an earlier ruling in their favour.
The family section of the civil court of appeal in the Lombardy capital upheld an appeal by the public prosecutor’s office against a June 2023 ruling that acknowledged as valid the transcription of the double maternity in the civil registry.
In their ruling, the judges said parliament must intervene on the issue of the registration of children born to same-sex couples.
“The court recognises that the matter in question requires the intervention of the legislature, which is the only body able to draw up a suitable detailed regulatory plan that correctly formulates the rights of the subjects involved in medically assisted human procreation,” said the court in a statement.
“[The legislation must balance] constitutional rights that must not come into conflict, including with those of the unborn child, a subject capable of rights in its being and becoming.”
The issue has been a hot topic in Italy since March 2023, when the government of Giorgia Meloni drew criticism from the opposition and rights activists after it instructed city mayors to stop registering the children of same-sex couples.
It was able to do so using a procedure based on the transcription into Italian civil registers of the foreign birth certificates of children conceived via surrogacy, which is a crime in Italy.
It also did so for children born to same-sex couples via assisted fertility, which is only available to heterosexual couples in Italy, citing a ruling by the Court of Cassation, Italy’s highest court.
ANSA
