Decree 770 - Wikipedia
Decree 770 was a decree of the communist government of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, signed in 1967. It restricted abortion and contraception, and was intended to create a new and large Romanian population. The term decreței (from the Romanian language word decret , meaning "decree"; diminutive decrețel ) is used to refer to those Romanians born during the time period immediately following the decree.
Before 1968, the Romanian abortion policy was one of the most liberal in Europe. Because the availability of contraceptive methods was poor, abortion became the foremost method of Romanian family planning. [citation needed ]
Through a combination of Romania's postwar modernization, high participation of women in the workforce, and a low standard of living, the number of births significantly decreased after the 1950s, reaching its lowest recorded level in 1966. Romanian leaders interpreted the decreasing number of births to be a result of the 1957 decree that legalized abortion.[citation needed ]
To counter this sharp decline in the birth rate, the Communist Party decided that the country's population should be increased from 20 million to 30 million inhabitants. In October 1966,[ 1] [ 2] Decree 770 was personally sanctioned by Ceaușescu. Abortion and contraception[citation needed ] were declared illegal, except for:
