Critical analysis of the Italian legal framework for assisted reproduction: Instituto Bernabeu’s participation in ESHRE 2025

Instituto Bernabeu will be present at one of the most relevant debates of the next European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE 2025) congress, where the legal and ethical challenges of access to reproductive treatments in Europe will be addressed.

Entitled ‘Reproductive rights denied in Italy: legal discrimination against single women, same-sex couples, transgender people and the global surrogacy controversy – a comparative perspective’, the meeting will bring together international experts to analyse the Italian regulatory context, one of the most restrictive in Europe in the field of assisted reproduction.

The debate will delve into how current Italian laws exclude single women, same-sex couples and transgender people from access to assisted reproductive technologies, as well as the recent criminalisation of surrogacy, even when performed abroad. These legal restrictions generate a clear legal and ethical discrimination, contrary to the principles of equality enshrined in the treaties of the European Union.

Instituto Bernabeu’s intervention, led by Dottssa. Sara Dalla Costa, lawyer specialised in biolaw and Coordinator of our Venice clinic, will focus on comparing this reality with more inclusive legislative models such as those of Spain, France or the United Kingdom. Recent rulings of the Italian Constitutional Court will also be presented, which highlight the existing tension between domestic law and current social and health demands.

The practical implications of these limitations will also be analysed, both for patients – who in many cases are forced to travel to other countries to receive treatment – and for professionals, who are faced with a complex and restrictive legal framework.

This debate aims to provide a critical and proactive vision to promote legislative reforms aimed at guaranteeing equal access to assisted reproduction treatments for all European citizens, in line with the fundamental principles of justice and human rights.