Italy is announcing a new initiative to raise the nation’s flagging birthrate. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government approved a new budget last week, setting aside 1 billion euros (nearly $1.1 billion) in funding to support mothers and families, in an effort to boost the national birthrate.

Some of those measures include increased financial aid to working mothers with two or more children, increased government funding for day care facilities, and extended parental leave. Meloni, herself a working mother, said, “We want to dismantle the narrative that birthrate is a disincentive to work. We want to incentivize those who give birth to children and want to work.”

[Mamma mia! I grew up with Italian cinema and its celebration of sex. The contraceptive culture did its damage in the very home of Humanae Vitae. Not that the US is doing much better. — Ed]