Single woman in Italy seeks equal fertility rights

The Constitutional Court is set to rule on the case of a 40-year-old single woman who appealed to a court of first instance in Florence after she was denied access to medically assisted fertility treatment at a centre in Tuscany.

The Constitutional Court will issue a sentence in the next few days after a hearing held to determine whether article 5 of Italy's law 40 on assisted reproductive technology which grants exclusive access to fertility treatments to married or cohabiting heterosexual couples is constitutional, CE Report quotes ANSA.

The issue was raised by the tribunal of Florence after the single woman, only identified as Evita, filed an appeal to be granted access to treatment.

Other plaintiffs in the Florence trial include another single woman who has applied for access to an assisted-fertility treatment and the Luca Coscioni civil rights association.

"Changing the law would be a necessary step to guarantee equal rights to women who try to become mothers", said Filomena Gallo, the attorney representing the two women and the association Luca Coscioni, who asked the Constitutional Court to declare the law unconstitutional at the hearing.

The attorney general said that it considered the appeal unfounded.

The Constitutional Court has previously struck down parts of the controversial law limiting assisted-fertility treatments, which was approved in 2004.

In one instance in 2014, it lifted a ban on the use of donor sperm and eggs.

A year later, the Court also allowed couples carrying genetically inherited disorders to access assisted-fertility treaments.

Under the law, which was originally passed by a cross-party alliance of Catholics, single parents, same-sex couples and women beyond child-bearing age cannot use assisted-fertility techniques.