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First Italian pregnant after egg donor ban lift

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First Italian pregnant after egg donor ban lift
Italy's ban on egg and sperm donations was lifted last month. Baby photo: Shutterstock"

The first pregnancy by egg donation in Italy has been announced, described as a "moment of great emotion", just weeks after a ban on the fertility treatment was lifted by the country's constitutional court.

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The Rome couple discovered they were pregnant earlier this month, according to a statement from the Luca Coscioni association which campaigns for freedom in scientific research.

“A week ago we received wonderful and important news: the first positive pregnancy test for a couple thanks to an egg donation,” said Filomena Gallo, the association’s secretary.

She described the breakthrough as a “moment of great emotion and joy” after a ten-year campaign to see Italy’s ban on egg and sperm donations banned.

Just days after the first couple fell pregnant, Gallo said the association was told of two other pregnancies through artificial insemination in Rome.

The ban on the fertility treatment was lifted in mid-June, after the constitutional court ruled in April that the controversial Law 40 went against Italians’ right to have a family. The law was introduced in 2004, during Silvio Berlusconi’s second term in office.

READ MORE: Sperm donor services to start in Italy

Following the court’s decision earlier this year, Italy’s approach to fertility treatment is currently under review.

Gallo said campaigners would be back in the constitutional court later this year, to request couples carrying genetic diseases be granted access to egg and sperm donation. The Luca Coscioni association is also fighting to see embryos not suitable for pregnancies be given over to scientific research. 

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