A strict 2004 law regulating assisted fertility practices was blamed on Monday for an almost 4% decline in the number of babies conceived using in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) in Italy.
The controversial law, which was passed by a cross-party alliance of Catholic lawmakers, bans the use of donor sperm or eggs, surrogate mothers and embryo freezing or experimentation.
Presenting parliament with the first official statistics since the law was introduced, Health Minister Livia Turco said that the rate of pregnancies obtained among couples using IVF had fallen from 24.8% in 2003 to 21.2% in 2005.
Italy's Higher Health Institute (ISS), which compiled the statistics from data provided by the country's 340 fertility clinics, said that the drop amounted to 1,041 fewer pregnancies.
It also said the percentage of miscarriages, ectopics and other adverse pregnancy outcomes had increased from 23.4% in 2003 to 26.4% in 2005.
The ISS linked the phenomenon to the law's requirement that all embryos created during IVF (a legal maximum of three) must be transferred to the woman's womb.
It noted that multiple pregnancies had also increased as a result, from 22.7% to 24.3%.
Italian pioneer of test-tube baby technology Carlo Flamigni, one of the fiercest critics of the law, said the report was "no surprise".
"The real figures are probably even worse because this report does not include the couples who have decided to bypass the law by going abroad for their fertility treatment," Flamigni said.
Well-known fertility specialist Severino Antinori called for the law to be changed.
"These figures show what a disaster has been created. Thousands of women have been deprived of their right to have children and thousands of others have been forced to go abroad," said Antinori, who shot to fame in 1994 when he helped a 63-year-old woman give birth.
But the centre-right opposition together with several Catholic lawmakers in the governing coalition defended the law and warned critics not to try and "dismantle" it.
Under the law, singles, same-sex couples and women beyond child-bearing age are banned from using assisted fertility techniques, which are limited - and only as a last resort - to sterile heterosexual couples who are married or live together on a "stable" basis.
A maximum of three eggs are allowed to be fertilised at one go and they must all be transferred to the womb simultaneously.
Experts say this lowers the chances of conception compared with the past practice of freezing embryos for future implant attempts and increases the risk of multiple births.
Women are denied the right to refuse implantation once their eggs have been fertilised.
The laws also forbid the screening of embryos for abnormalities or genetic disorders, even for couples with a history of genetic disease.
Supporters say the law respects the rights of the human embryo, preserves the family as the fundamental social unit and ends decades of unregulated practices.
In May 2003, the late Pope John Paul II urged parliament to rapidly approve the long-debated bill, saying it defended the rights of unborn children "as concretely as possible."
However, liberal parliamentarians and most female lawmakers accuse Catholic politicians of bowing to the Church with highly restrictive norms that allegedly place women's health at risk and deny sterile couples many of the options that are standard treatment in other European states.
Critics immediately set about trying to get the laws overturned by launching a public referendum campaign but the ballot failed to reach the quorum needed due to low voter turnout.
