Italy’s Constitutional Court issued a landmark ruling on May 22, 2025 C.E., declaring that both women in a same-sex couple must be legally recognized as parents when they conceive a child abroad through medically assisted reproduction. The decision closes a legal gap that left thousands of children without guaranteed protection of both parental bonds — and it moves Italy meaningfully closer to the standard set by much of Western Europe.
At a glance
- Same-sex parental rights: The Court found that excluding a non-biological mother from her child’s birth certificate violates constitutional principles of equality, family life, and legal certainty.
- The case: A couple from Lucca, Tuscany — identified as GG and IP — conceived their child via IVF abroad. Only the birth mother had been recognized under Italian law, leaving the co-parent without legal standing.
- What changes: Both mothers must now be listed on the birth certificate without requiring the non-biological parent to pursue stepchild adoption, a process that has historically been lengthy and uncertain.
Why this ruling matters for families
For years, same-sex couples in Italy who had children through assisted reproduction abroad faced a painful legal paradox. Both parents raised the child, both had planned and wanted the child — but only one was legally recognized.
If the birth mother died, became incapacitated, or the relationship ended, the other parent had no automatic rights. The child had no guaranteed connection to half their family in the eyes of the law.
The Constitutional Court, led by President Giovanni Amoroso, ruled that a child’s right to stable and continuous relationships with both parents outweighs bureaucratic obstacles. The framing is important: this ruling centers the child’s interest, not parental identity — and that distinction tends to make legal progress more durable.
“This is a monumental decision,” said Marilena Grassadonia of Famiglie Arcobaleno, a leading LGBTQ+ rights organization in Italy. “It restores dignity and protection to rainbow families who have long been marginalized and discriminated against in our legal system.”
Italy joins a growing European consensus
With this ruling, Italy aligns more closely with countries including the U.K., France, Spain, and the Netherlands, all of which already recognize both mothers in same-sex parenting arrangements. Germany, which had historically shared Italy’s cautious approach to these questions, passed reforms in 2021 C.E. granting automatic recognition to non-biological mothers in marriages involving assisted reproduction.
Vincenzo Miri, president of Rete Lenford and legal counsel to the couple at the center of the case, called it a “historic decision, obtained after years of legal battles” aimed at reversing earlier precedent set by Italy’s Supreme Court.
The shift is part of a broader arc. Civil unions for same-sex couples became legal in Italy in 2016 C.E. This ruling doesn’t change marriage or adoption law — those remain restricted — but it does extend one of the most concrete protections available: the legal bond between parent and child, recorded from birth.
Real limits remain
The ruling is significant, but it is not complete. The Court’s decision applies only to children conceived abroad through medically assisted reproduction. Within Italy, same-sex female couples are still barred from accessing IVF, which means parental recognition for children born domestically through assisted reproduction remains unresolved.
A separate ruling issued the same week upheld those domestic restrictions, noting that legislative change is Parliament’s responsibility — not the Court’s. “The Court has done what it can within the limits of the Constitution,” Grassadonia said. “Now it’s Parliament’s turn to act decisively.”
Across the E.U., the picture remains uneven. Countries including Hungary, Poland, and Romania continue to deny legal recognition of same-sex parental rights entirely. A 2022 C.E. European Parliament resolution called for greater harmonization of family laws across member states. For families whose rights may disappear when they cross a border, that inconsistency is a real and ongoing burden.
The child at the center
What distinguishes this ruling — and what gives it resonance beyond legal circles — is its framing. The Court did not rule primarily on the rights of parents. It ruled on the rights of children.
A child, it said, deserves legal certainty about who their parents are. That certainty should not depend on how the child was conceived or where. That logic has shaped similar rulings in family law reform across Europe, and it tends to hold: progress built on children’s welfare is harder to roll back than progress built solely on adult rights claims.
Italy has a long and complicated relationship with questions of family, tradition, and identity. This ruling doesn’t resolve that. But it does establish, for the first time at the constitutional level, that every child deserves to have the law recognize both of the parents who brought them into the world. You can follow ongoing legal developments in Italian family law through ILGA-Europe, which tracks LGBTQ+ rights across the continent.
Read more
For more on this story, see: ICLG
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Marie-Louise Eta becomes the first female head coach in men’s top-flight European football
- Indigenous land rights recognized at COP30 across 160 million hectares
- The Good News for Humankind archive on Italy
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