In a move which tightens a previous 2004 surrogacy ban, Italy has officially banned its citizens from seeking surrogates abroad in a new Senate bill passed on Wednesday.

The new law, proposed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing governing party, extends an existing prohibition on surrogacy in Italy. It targets people with a penalty of maximum two years in prison and fines of up to €1 million, if they travel to a country where the practice is legal to have a baby via surrogacy.

Italy’s parliament made it illegal on Wednesday for couples to go abroad to have a baby via surrogacy — a pet project of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party which activists say is meant to target same-sex partners.

Italy passed a law on Wednesday that criminalizes seeking surrogacy abroad, a move the country’s conservative government said would protect women’s dignity, while critics see it as yet another crackdown by the government on L.G.B.T. families, as the law will make it virtually impossible for gay fathers to have children.

Italy on Wednesday criminalized citizens who go abroad to have children through surrogacy, a measure slammed by opponents as “medieval" and discriminatory to same-sex couples. The measure extending a surrogacy ban in place since 2004 was promoted by Premier Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party and its conservative coalition partner,