The Luca Coscioni Association has intensified its “PMA for All” campaign with a large billboard near the Vatican Museums in Rome and an ongoing petition to Parliament. The initiative aims to eliminate discriminatory provisions within Italy’s 2004 Law 40 and guarantee equal access to medically assisted reproduction (PMA) for single women and same-sex couples.
The billboard, on display in Risorgimento Square until September 18, features Maria Giulia, a 31-year-old Roman born in 1994 to a single mother who was able to use PMA in Italy at that time. Next to her portrait, the text asks: “Could I really not be born today?” Campaign organizers explain that under the current legal ban, that same possibility would now be denied.
Maria Giulia is a member of the “PMA for All” group within the association. Another member, Evita, a 40-year-old from Turin, was denied PMA in Tuscania. Her case reached the Constitutional Court, which affirmed that legislators have the power to extend PMA access to single-parent families. The campaign’s objective is to bring the issue to Parliament, prompting the association to collect signatures to amend Article 5 of Law 40.
“Since 2004, numerous bans under Law 40 have been removed thanks to the courts, but the prohibition for single women and same-sex couples to access PMA remains,” stated Filomena Gallo and Francesca Re, the association’s secretary and general counsel, respectively. “Every year, thousands are forced to go abroad to realize their family projects. Legislators now have a responsibility to act, remove this obstacle, and guarantee equal access, as already demanded by the European Parliament and the UN Committee on Social Rights.” The Coscioni Association will present the collected signatures to the Senate in support of the petition on September 18.