Romania’s abortion ban between 1966 and 1989 caused maternal mortality rates to jump and left people wary of one another
Perspective by Gail Kligman
September 15, 2022
Courtesy of the Supreme Court, an increasing number of American states — most recently West Virginia — are now in the company of the extreme antiabortion regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, from which Romanians were liberated when the communist dictator and his wife, Elena, were executed on Dec. 25, 1989. The provisional government swiftly moved to legalize abortion to the great relief of the population. A Christian Science Monitor headline proclaimed: “Freedom Triumphs and Romania Goes Pro-Choice: Romania’s Pre-revolution Abortion Laws Should Serve as Warning to the U.S.”