Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has called surrogate parenthood an ‘inhuman practice’ that treats children as ‘supermarket products,’ at an event in Rome on Friday.

She urged the Italian Parliament to pass a bill proposing greater fines and prison sentences for those who go abroad in search of surrogate parents.

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy Party (FdI) has already passed the bill through the Parliament’s Lower House. It is now up for debate in the Senate.

The government want to further prohibit Italians from having a baby in countries where surrogacy is legal – such as the US and Canada – by increasing fines to up to €1million and jail terms to up to two years.

Opposition parties see the proposed bill as part of an even stricter ban under Meloni’s conservative, nuclear-family loving agenda that elevates values of traditional motherhood. Her government echoes the Vatican’s opposition to surrogacy.

“No one can convince me that it is an act of freedom to rent one’s womb. no one can convince me that it is an act of love to consider children as an over-the-counter product in a supermarket,” she said.

“I support the bill that makes it a universal crime,” she added.

Rights Groups have criticised the bill, saying it unfairly targets the LGBT community who are consistently devalued by her government’s populist appeals to the masses.

This comes amidst declining birth rates in Italy and calls for public spending increases to support families, including tax breaks, bonuses, and other rewards for having multiple children.