Italy’s Senate Delays Consent Rape Bill, Parliament Adopts Femicide Law

Italy’s Parliament moves forward with one major change while the other stalls, illustrating the political complexity of updating laws on sexual and gender based violence. On November 26, 2025 the Senate postponed debate and a planned vote on a landmark bill that would explicitly define sex without consent as rape, a measure campaigners had pressed for as a step to modernize national sexual violence law. The delay is credited to pressure from the League party within Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition, and it has laid bare tensions inside the governing alliance.

The stalled consent bill had been seen by supporters as an attempt to align Italian criminal law with contemporary understandings of consent and to respond to years of advocacy by survivors and rights groups. Its postponement provoked immediate criticism from opposition politicians and civil society organizations who argued that delaying the measure undermines protections for victims and signals a lack of political will to confront entrenched cultural attitudes toward sexual violence.

At the same time, the lower house of parliament approved legislation creating a distinct crime of femicide, defined as gender motivated killing of women, and setting penalties that can reach life imprisonment. Lawmakers framed the femicide provision as a sharp response to high profile cases that have heightened public alarm about intimate partner violence and killings motivated by misogyny. The parallel movement on femicide and the halt on the consent bill highlight a split in priorities within Italy’s political mainstream where tougher penalties for murder gain cross party support while reforms that redefine sexual violence encounter greater resistance.

The juxtaposition of the two parliamentary actions will have legal and social implications. Classifying femicide as a distinct offense elevates the recognition of gender as a motive in violent crime and could affect sentencing and prosecutorial approaches. Conversely, delaying a consent based definition of rape leaves in place legal standards that many advocates consider outdated, perpetuating uncertainty for survivors seeking justice and for judicial bodies adapting to evolving norms about autonomy and bodily integrity.

Internationally the developments will be watched by partners and human rights bodies that have urged EU member states to strengthen protections against gender based violence. For Italy the debate carries reputational weight as well as domestic political consequences. The government must navigate coalition demands, conservative sensitivities, and the expectations of a civil society that has mobilized extensively on these issues.

The twin outcomes also deepen questions about timing and substance. Supporters of rapid reform are likely to intensify pressure on the coalition to reconvene the Senate agenda, while proponents of the femicide law will emphasize the significance of criminal recognition of gender motivations. The political balance within the governing bloc will determine whether the consent bill returns to the parliamentary timetable and whether Italy’s legal framework moves in step with wider European trends on sexual violence and gender based crime.