Film producer Iervolino to use surrogacy to become father

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 23 - International film producer Andrea Iervolino said Friday he was going to use the implanted eggs of his Chinese business partner to have a child by a surrogate mother in the USA despite Italian government moves that could make those using such methods guilty of a 'universal crime' punishable by up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to two million euros.
    Italian-Canadian Iervolino, 36, whose films include "Lamborghini - The man behind the legend", "Ferrari" with Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, and the Academy Award-nominated anthology movie Tell It Like a Woman, said it was "almost impossible" to adopt a child as a single person, although "I would have far preferred that".
    He said he had found a surrogate mother candidate in Los Angeles. California is one of the US states where commercial surrogacy is legal.
    "I understand that this choice may seem unnatural, and that many people view surrogate motherhood as an artificial distortion of a natural reproduction process," he told reporters.
    "But in fact this choice constitutes for me an act of great love, and I'm convinced that every innovation can be used both against but also in favour of humanity, as in this case.
    "I would by far have preferred to adopt, but it's almost impossible for a single person".
    A government bill that would make surrogacy a universal crime is moving through parliament.
    The surrogacy bill, which was approved by the upper house justice committee last month, recently saw a rightwing League amendment saying using surrogate mothers should be punishable by 4-10 years in jail and a fine of 600,000 to two million euros.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party bill would make surrogacy a "universal crime", even abroad, ending a practice that is widely used by Italian gay couples in the US and other countries.
    The League's further stricture against surrogacy includes punishing the public official who registers the children born from that practice.
    Both Meloni and League leader Matteo Salvini have described the 'babies for sale' practice of paying allegedly vulnerable women and depriving infants of their natural mothers as "abominable".
    The centre-left opposition is fighting the bill.
    Countries where commercial surrogacy is legal are the USA, Georgia, and Greece.
    Additionally, altruistic surrogacy is allowed in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala, Greece, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
    Ireland joined the list last month.
    photo: Iervolino at the premiere of Ghost Detainee -The case of Bu Omar (ANSA).