ROME — Italy passed a law 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 LGBTQ+ families, as the law will make it virtually impossible for gay fathers to have children.

Surrogacy is already illegal in Italy. But the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to broaden the ban to punish Italians who seek it in countries where it is legal.

Analysts saw the legislation as a way for Meloni to assert her conservative credentials and appeal to her political base, which disproportionately opposes surrogacy and adoption by gay couples. Italy already ranks low in Europe when it comes to civil liberties, and Italian critics say that by imposing further restrictions on gay families, Meloni has taken a particularly hard line.

Even before it passed, the law had plunged gay families into panic. Now, they feel even more in danger, since under the new law they could be subject to prison sentences and large fines.