SW News: Various pro-life advocates have decried the Italian Medicines Agency's move to make contraceptive pills free to women of all ages. The move comes under scrutiny in the backdrop of the declining birth rates in the European country.

Pro Vita & Famiglia, a pro-family organization, condemned the move, saying it would encourage young girls to flood their bodies with hormones. Board member of the organization, Maria Rachele Ruiu, said, "There is nothing more dangerous for women's health than trivializing issues that impact them directly, such as abortion, contraception, gender, and prostitution."

The group added that it is irresponsible to provide drugs without underlining the dangerous physical and psychological adverse effects that might lead to sadness and suicidal thoughts in those consuming the pills.

Another pro-life organization, the Family Day Association, questions why the government provides free drugs when the country is already facing a demographic catastrophe. Massimo Gandolfini, its leader, has raised concerns that this would "go in the opposite direction to the problem of falling birth rates." Instead, he claims that the 140 million euros spent on this might have been "allocated to alleviate the serious conditions of families with disabled children who require expensive drugs that are not provided free of charge."

The pro-life advocates also raised concerns that free oral contraception contradicts the conservative government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's birth rate incentive plan.

However, the decision was taken by AIFA's Pricing and Reimbursement Committee (CPR), and it is currently awaiting approval from the agency's board of directors before going into effect.