THE USE OF MEDICALLY ASSISTED PROCREATION METHODS IN THE LATEST JURISPRUDENCE OF THE ITALIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

Abstract

On January 28, 2021, the Italian Constitutional Court issued two judgments (Judgment No. 32/2021 and Judgment No. 33/2021) in which it ruled that the Italian Parliament should enact legislation on the legal recognition of the relationship between a child born using medically assisted procreation methods and his or her intending (intended) parent, i.e. a person who was involved in the conception and birth of that child, who is not genetically related to him or her, but who takes care of him or her from the moment of his or her birth, exercising de facto parental authority over him or her. The Italian Constitutional Court, in its argumentation on the use of medically assisted procreation methods, similarly to the ECHR, took into account mainly the protection of the rights of the child, completely ignoring the anti-discriminatory issue of parenthood of same-sex couples, which is one of the controversial areas in many respects (legal, medical and ethical) in changing social relations. This position of the Italian Court realizes a legitimizing-justifying relationship with the ECHR