Episode 1
The first episode, curated by Dr. Stefania Pia Perrino, Research Fellow at the University of Milano-Bicocca, explores reproductive health and the right to self-determination.
This episode delves into key topics such as abortion regulation, emergency contraception, and medically assisted reproduction, analyzing their intersections and limitations.
Episode 2
Law 40/2004 has been repeatedly reviewed by the Italian Constitutional Court. Since 2009, the Court has declared several of its provisions unconstitutional.
This process of “progressive erosion” is analyzed in the second episode by Dr. Matteo Caldironi, Adjunct Professor and Research Fellow in Constitutional Law at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
Episode 3
Traditionally, parenthood has been understood as a legal status rooted in biological ties. However, with the advent of adoption first, and medically assisted reproduction later, a new form of parenthood has emerged—one detached from genetics and grounded instead in the voluntary and conscious assumption of reproductive and parental responsibility. At the core of this shift lies consent.
In the third episode, Professor Valentina Piccinini addresses the critical issues surrounding informed consent in medically assisted reproduction (as regulated by Law 40/2004, Articles 6, 8, and 9), and the challenges this legal framework poses in the increasingly complex landscape shaped by advanced and diverse reproductive technologies.
Episode 4
Law 40/2004 regulates medically assisted reproduction and, beyond access requirements and consent provisions, also establishes several criminal offenses and administrative violations.
In this episode, Professor Giandomenico Dodaro, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Milano-Bicocca, analyzes the scope of these prohibitions, as well as the first reform proposal—recently approved by Parliament—extending the criminalization of surrogacy.
Episode 5
Controversial and widely debated, social freezing has gained increasing attention in recent years as a means of managing reproductive choices—not only in response to pathological or structural infertility, but also as a preventive tool.
Professor Giandomenico Dodaro, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Milano-Bicocca, explores this phenomenon and its potential scope of application, taking into account the significant restrictions and prohibitions imposed by the law on medically assisted reproduction.
Episode 6
Consent and sanctions are key features of Law 40/2004 and contribute to shaping what is considered public order.
Public order is a general legal clause used to allow or deny the recognition of effects from foreign acts and rulings within Italy. This principle is often applied to cases of parenthood resulting from reproductive techniques that are prohibited in Italy but permitted abroad.
Dr. Stefania Pia Perrino, Research Fellow in Private Law at the University of Milano-Bicocca, examines the concept of public order and how it is applied to parenthood arising from medically assisted reproduction techniques forbidden in Italy but allowed elsewhere—such as reproduction for same-sex couples and, most notably, surrogacy.
Episode 7
Public order is a general clause in both private law and private international law. In cases with transnational elements, this clause is used to either reject or accept the effects of foreign acts or rulings, depending on whether they are incompatible or compatible with the fundamental principles of the domestic and international legal systems.
This clause also applies to the institution known as kafala, recognized in certain Islamic legal systems and comparable to a form of child guardianship, used where legal systems do not allow forms of parenthood other than legitimate filiation.
Dr. Amal Alquawasmi, Research Fellow at the University of Copenhagen, examines judicial applications of the public order clause in cases involving kafala.
Episode 8
Islamic repudiation, or talaq, is a form of unilateral dissolution of marriage recognized in various ways across Islamic legal systems. This institution is unfamiliar to Western legal frameworks, yet its legal effects may come into question when individuals move across borders.
This raises the issue of whether the effects of talaq are compatible with the general clause of public order.
In this episode, Dr. Amal Alquawasmi, Research Fellow at the University of Copenhagen, examines how public order has been applied to cases involving talaq.
Episode 9
The doctrine of functional parenthood is based on the roles and care provided by adults toward, and in the interest of, the child.
Adopting a child-centered perspective (paidocentric), this approach moves away from concepts of filiation and parenthood rooted in genetic ties, focusing instead on those who actually perform parental functions.
In this episode, Professor Antonio Vercellone, Associate Professor of Private Law at the University of Turin and Principal Investigator of the EVOLVE Research Project, introduces the new American doctrine and explores its potential applications in the Italian legal system.
Episode 10
The donation of reproductive cells was permitted in Italy prior to Law 40/2004. Following the Constitutional Court’s ruling that declared the ban on heterologous fertilization unconstitutional, cell donation once again became a central issue in legal and ethical debates.
As with the donation of organs, tissues, and other cells, the principles of gratuity, voluntariness, and donor anonymity apply, in order to ensure the safety of the system.
However, this safety appears to have been undermined precisely by the regime of anonymity.
In this episode, Alessandra Pellegrini de Luca, journalist at Il Post, discusses anonymity, the right (or desire) to know one’s origins, and the limits imposed by the current system.
Episode 11
Reproductive cell donation enables heterologous reproduction for those who cannot use their own gametes.
However, in Italy, such donations are infrequent—unlike blood or bone marrow donation. This shortage leads to the importation of cells from abroad, cross-border reproductive travel, or the use of so-called informal donations.
In this episode, Alessandra Pellegrini de Luca, journalist at Il Post, shares her research on this topic and explores the challenges this phenomenon poses for the Italian legal system.
Episode 12
Parenthood is a “matter of status”—referring both to civil status and to the legal system that governs it.
Indeed, the legal regulation of parenthood varies significantly between jurisdictions, even within Europe.
In this episode, Professor Elizabeth Stuart Perry from Uppsala University, Sweden, offers an overview of Northern European legal systems, with a particular focus on recent developments in Denmark.
Episode 13
In our season finale, Professor Federico Pedrini—Principal Investigator of the Social Parenthood project and Full Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia—discusses the concept of the scientific evidence clause (riserva di scienza) as a limitation on legislative discretion. This principle calls for “proportionate” legislative interventions, particularly in the field of healthcare.
Constitutional jurisprudence on medically assisted reproduction highlights the potential of the Constitutional Court’s scientific reasonableness review to evaluate certain legislative choices. At the same time, it reveals the risks of this form of oversight, especially when the Court fails to clearly identify the source and reliability of the scientific models it uses as the basis for its decisions.