ACCESS TO MEDICALLY ASSISTED HUMAN REPRODUCTION.
THE MODEL OF ITALY
Abstract
This article analyzes the current situation of medically assisted reproduction in Italy after the promulgation of Law 40 in 2004. How to apply the law today differs greatly from its original version. The controversial points like reproduction for couples who bear genetic diseases, prohibition of heterologous fertilization, cryoconservation of the embryos, obligation to perform just one and contemporaneous implant of all the embryos produced, disappeared forever. This new situation is due to the jurisprudence of the Italian Courts but especially to the changes introduced by the European Court of Human Rights and by the questions of constitutionality raised by some Italian Courts. After analysis of the legislation, the views of various authors are compared, and the weaknesses and strong points of the law are considered from the point of view of legal medicine, science and bioethics. After many years of operation of this law, Italy has returned to a situation that existed before the law. In Italy, despite the impact of prevalent Catholic thought profound changes are occurring in the traditional family, with a higher number of single-parent families, childless couples, and same-sex couples.
Keywords: Italian law, medically assisted human reproduction, filiation, child, family life.