School of Law, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60121 Ancona, Italy.
Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, "Sapienza" University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2024 Sep;300:41-48. doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2024.07.008. Epub 2024 Jul 6.
The article aims to shed a light on the unique complexities inherent in surrogacy and the legal-ethical challenges that currently exists even in many advanced democracies, which frequently result in uneven and ill-defined standards and processes. The recent proposal of making surrogacy a "universal crime", meant to prevent cross-border surrogacy, i.e. travels by citizens from countries where it is illegal to countries where it is legal, has also been weighed, by exploring the current legislative state of affairs, trends and future horizons. Recent case-law has been analyzed and interpreted, with a close focus on Italian Supreme Court ruling n. 38162, issued on 30th December 2022 and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings issued over the past decade. Uncertainty and ill-defined norms and court rulings risk harming the rights of children, surrogate mothers and intended parents. So far, court decisions have somehow filled the legal vacuum, considering that cross-border surrogacy is not specifically regulated in many countries and the status of children born abroad is still controversial. The views and judgments of supranational courts on the issue need to be accounted for when drafting new specific legislation. It is of utmost importance to uphold the rights of children born through surrogacy abroad, whose best interests risk being damaged. Legislative harmonization at the international level is essential to prevent the cross-border surrogacy trend. The "universal crime" draft bills appear to be difficult to enforce and too vague to be credible at the moment.
本文旨在探讨代孕所涉及的独特复杂性和当前存在的法律伦理挑战，即使在许多先进的民主国家中，这些问题也经常导致标准和程序的不平衡和不明确。最近提出的将代孕定为“普遍犯罪”的提议，旨在防止跨境代孕，即禁止公民从代孕非法的国家前往代孕合法的国家。本文还通过探讨当前的立法现状、趋势和未来前景，权衡了这一提议。本文分析和解释了最近的案例法，重点关注意大利最高法院于 2022 年 12 月 30 日作出的第 38162 号裁决，以及欧洲人权法院在过去十年作出的裁决。不确定性和不明确的规范和法院裁决有可能损害儿童、代孕母亲和预期父母的权利。到目前为止，法院的判决在一定程度上填补了法律空白，因为许多国家没有专门规定跨境代孕，而且在国外出生的儿童的身份仍然存在争议。在起草新的具体立法时，需要考虑到超国家法院对这一问题的观点和判断。维护在国外通过代孕出生的儿童的权利至关重要，因为他们的最大利益有可能受到损害。国际层面的立法协调对于防止跨境代孕趋势至关重要。目前，“普遍犯罪”草案似乎难以执行，而且过于模糊，难以令人信服。
