The 1966 Decree
In 1966, Romania outlawed birth control and abortion, with disastrous results:
The 1966 decree
“In 1966, the Ceauşescu regime, in an attempt to boost the country's population, made abortion illegal, and introduced other policies to reverse the very low birth rate and fertility rate. Mothers of at least five children would be entitled to significant benefits, while mothers of at least ten children were declared heroine mothers by the Romanian state. However, few women ever sought this status; instead, the average Romanian family during the time had two to three children (see Demographics of Romania).[10] Furthermore, a considerable number of women either died or were maimed during clandestine abortions.[11]
“The government also targeted rising divorce rates and made divorce much more difficult - it was decreed that a marriage could be dissolved only in exceptional cases. By the late 1960s, the population began to swell. In turn, a new problem was created by child abandonment, which swelled the orphanage population (see Cighid). Transfusions of untested blood led to Romania accounting for many of Europe's paediatric HIV/AIDS cases at the turn of the 21st century despite having a population that only makes up around 3% of Europe.[12][13]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceau%C8%99escu#The_1966_decree
The BBC did an excellent report in 2005 on the orphanages to which Romanian unwanted children were sent.
Life in Ceausescu's institutions
By Kate McGeown
BBC News
It is now more than 15 years since the world found out about the thousands of children locked away in Romania's state institutions. In the second of a series on these children, former volunteer Kate McGeown looks at the dreadful conditions they faced.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4630855.stm
Our country should not adopt the same disastrous policy.
