The anonymous birth, the breach opened by the Consulta has not yet been closed by Parliament

# The Right to Know One's Origins: A Still Ongoing Legal Battle## The Turning Point of 2013: When Absolute Anonymity Becomes UnconstitutionalItaly has experienced a silent revolution in the field of human rights. In 2013, the Constitutional Court declared absolute and irreversible maternal anonymity unconstitutional, breaching a system that for decades had prioritized the protection of the mother at the expense of the child's right to know his or her origins.Ruling 278/2013 marks a watershed moment: no longer a secret frozen in time, but the judge's ability to consult the biological mother who had chosen anonymity, verifying whether this desire persists after years.## The Case That Changed EverythingBehind this legal revolution is the story of R.M., a woman who discovered she had been adopted only during her marital separation. The lack of information about her origins prevented her from obtaining a complete medical history, hindering diagnosis and treatment for conditions that would have required a family history.## Legislative limbo: eleven years of waitingDespite the clear indication from the Constitutional Court, the Italian legislature has yet to act. Since 2015, several bills have been introduced—all of which have remained dead letters—while the courts are struggling with internal "mini-protocols" to implement the constitutional ruling.## The questions that remainThe bill raises crucial questions for the future:- How can we protect those seeking their origins for health reasons, when genetic diseases could be treated through genetic mapping?- How can we overcome the discrimination faced by former cancer patients in accessing banking and insurance services?- Why does the legislature continue to ignore fundamental human rights?## An evolving European lawThe issue is not unique to Italy. The European Court of Human Rights condemned Italy in the Godelli case (2012) for the lack of balancing mechanisms, while in France it recently ruled out any violations of Article 8 of the Convention.The picture that emerges is one of a constantly evolving law, where the balance between maternal anonymity and the search for origins remains an open challenge, awaiting the legislator's emergence from its long slumber.---*An in-depth analysis by Pasquale Giustiniani that captures the state of the art of an issue destined to impact thousands of lives and which strikes at the very heart of human rights in the 21st century.*